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If you’re a regular around here, it probably isn’t too wild a guess that an interiors collaboration from the Natural History Museum may be among my favourite new launches ever. In fact, with three launching within a month of each other I feel a little like all my interiors lottery tickets have come at once. The Natural History museum have collaborated on three distinct ranges, firstly with MADE on a collection of prints that launched at the end of last month, secondly with my perennial paint favourites Farrow & Ball on a new colour palette, and finally with cool maximalist wallpaper brand Divine Savages. As with all things taken from museums, these collections are rich in storytelling.
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Farrow & Ball
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Farrow & Ball Broccoli Brown & Skimmed Milk
Duck Green & Snow White.
Snow White & Dutch Orange.
Deep Reddish Brown.
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The pairing with Farrow & Ball is such a natural one, known for their eco friendly paint in rich colour palettes that rely on natural pigment, this collaboration, which draws on the colours of nature with it’s 16 new shades, is pretty well a perfect pairing. The colours in this collection are based on entries in Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours, a classification of colour from 1814, which aided Charles Darwin on his voyage aboard HMS Beagle. They are probably the punchiest palette you will ever see from Farrow and Ball. My favourite colours are those from the softer end of the spectrum like Skimmed Milk White (matches to the back petals of Blue Hepatica and the common opal), Ash Grey (matched to the breast of a long tailed Hen Titmouse and flint) or Crimson Red (matched to Precious Garnet). But I’m equally thrilled to see bold hues like Imperial Blue, Duck Green, Deep Reddish Brown and Sap Green, variously based on deep parts of the saffron crocus, neck of a mallard, breast of pochard and under side of lower wings of an orange tip butterfly.
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MADE
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Next up MADE designers were let loose on the Natural History Museum’s archive of 19th century illustrations. The team sifted through many thousands of images (just imagine that task, I think I could happily be locked in that archive forever!) choosing 10 final images. Some of the drawings they selected were by a 19th century tea inspector called John Reeves who visited China making detailed drawings of the things he saw, others by explorers and botanical draughtsmen. The images were chosen for their resonance with a modern design aesthetic, and all images were tweaked in some way, some required restoration, whilst on others colour was added. I particularly love both of the double print of the fish and the colourful coral collection. All prints come framed in either black or oak frames.
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Divine Savages
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Finally, for those with a more intricate aesthetic, purveyors of maximalism, Divine Savages have been looking through the Natural History Museum’s print archives for inspiration for their latest wallpaper and fabric collection which launches on 17th October. There are prints that blend both botanical and reptile collections, as in Forbidden Bloom which intertwines florals with snakes, and those that reflect the awesome panels in the museums great hall, as in the prints Botanize. But perhaps because I’m a South Londoner, the stand out print from the collection to my eye is Extinctopia. Based on Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins themepark at Crystal Palace Park featuring a plethora of prehistoric beasts. If you know the park well, you will certainly recognise some of these figures, which are interspersed with victorians wandering through this fantasy world. The collection launches next month.
