When Light Meets Pattern: The New Art of Custom Wallcovering
In highly developed, sophisticated interiors, the most memorable details are rarely accidental. A sconce is aligned precisely along an architectural axis. A panel of stone meets a millwork detail at exactly the right point. A chandelier is centered over a table rather than simply centered in a room. At WOWpapers, that same level of precision is brought to designer wallpapers.
Custom wallcovering is not simply something applied to a wall. It can be designed around the architecture, furnishings, millwork – and even the precise locations of sconces and other surface mounted light fixtures along with art pieces.
The result is a more considered relationship between light and pattern, where the source of illumination becomes part of the composition rather than an interruption in it.
Designing the Wall and Light Together
Traditional wallpaper is generally conceived as a pattern repeat that exists independently of the architecture in a room. A designer selects a pattern, determines the appropriate color and scale, and then the installer works around fenestrations, outlets, and other architectural elements.
That approach can be beautiful, as we’ve all seen, but luxury interiors will benefit from a more exacting approach.
This is the particular thrill of custom interior design: the ability to make every element feel as though it was conceived specifically for that space.
At WOWpapers, that philosophy extends to the relationship between the wall, the wallcovering pattern, and illumination. The result is a flawless composition of architecture, pattern, color, texture, and light. WOW, indeed.
A Sconce Becomes A Part of Pattern
A gorgeous sconce is a graphic design element on the wall. Its silhouette, proportion, finish material(s) and most importantly its illumination contribute to the visual language of the interior. Being a Light Lover myself, it’s hard to express how much I adore the power of an amazing sconce.
Against a patterned wallcovering that relationship between light, form, material, pattern and color becomes even more interesting.
A geometric sconce might be centered within a particular motif. A pair of sconces might frame a repeating pattern symmetrically. A linear wall light might sit directly along a visual axis within the pattern. Or a fixture might intentionally interrupt a motif, creating a moment of contrast between the three-dimensional object and the two-dimensional pattern.
The possibilities become particularly compelling with abstract, geometric and light-inspired wallpaper designs exactly like what I design and exhibit here on this site.
Rather than treating the pattern as background, WOWpapers will adjust the scale, repeat, and positioning so that the light fixture and wallcovering read as a single composition. This can have a dramatic effect on the finished space.
The Luxury of Precise Sconce Placement
There is something inherently luxurious about precision.
It’s the difference between a jacket that happens to fit and one that has been tailored specifically for the wearer. Between a store-bought piece of furniture and one fabricated according to a designer’s specs.
The same principle applies to sconce placement and alignment with wallpaper design.
Imagine a room where two sculptural sconces flank the bed. Rather than allowing the wallpaper repeat to fall wherever it happens to land, the pattern can be positioned in relation to the light fixtures and the furniture.
Consider a dining room wrapped in a richly graphic wallcovering, with architectural sconces distributed along the perimeter. The pattern can be scaled and placed so that the fixtures participate in the wallpaper pattern’s rhythm.
Recessed fixtures, surface-mounted fixtures, chandeliers, pendants, smoke detectors, speakers and other architectural components all occupy the visual field. They’re not invisible; let’s account for and plan for how these elements interact with pattern and color.
A custom pattern developed with these locations in mind allows motifs to align with the lighting plan rather than compete against it.
The objective is not necessarily perfect symmetry. It is intentionality.
Pattern Scale Becomes an Architectural Decision
The same wallpaper design can produce an entirely different interior vibe depending on whether its motifs are printed large, medium-scaled, or small. WOWpapers offers different scales to get that conversation started, but we’ll customize the patterns to the dimensions and architectural characteristics of each individual surface to be covered. That’s the whole impetus behind my practice.
When lighting locations are introduced into the equation, scale becomes even more consequential. (And it really gets my energy flowing!)
A motif that is too small may become visually insignificant behind a substantial sconce. A pattern that is too large for the space may place an important graphic element awkwardly beneath or beside the light fixture. With a custom wallcovering, however, we can determine how the pattern relates to the built environment before printing the wallpaper.
This is the difference between selecting wallpaper for a room and designing wallpaper for a room. The result is a wallcovering that appears architectural rather than decorative.
Light Reveals the Luxury of Pattern and How It Is Perceived
There is another reason for aligning sconces and surface mounted lights: light changes the appearance of a pattern that it is placed upon.
A wall illuminated from above will read differently from one illuminated by a sconce on that wall. Grazing light can emphasize texture while reflected light can reveal subtle or not-so-subtle variations in color and finish material. Metallic or specialty substrates can catch and reflect illuminance, transforming a pattern as light changes throughout the day & night and as one’s perspective shifts moving through the space.
WOWpapers approaches wallcovering with precisely this interaction in mind: where the light originates from, how it strikes a surface and what atmosphere it creates; the vibe.
There are probably very few people who have studied interior design (undergrad) and lighting design (grad school) that are also wallpaper designers AND printers. I hope that my unique experience and practice will be a great asset to your design projects.
With WOWpapers, wallcovering doesn’t have to be the element that comes last – installed after the lighting plan, millwork and furniture have already been determined.
Let’s make it a part of the design conversation from the beginning!
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Brutalist Murano glass vintage sconces at Venfield NYC |
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Vintage Kinkeldey crystal sconce | |
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