Calico Wallpaper + Faye Toogood Collaborate On Femme-Forward Wallcoverings As Art

Photography courtesy Calico Wallpaper

British designer Faye Toogood picked up her paintbrush for bespoke textile brand Calico Wallpaper to illustrate Muse—a wallcovering collection created to celebrate femininity in all its forms.

New York-based Calico Wallpaper has collaborated with British designer Faye Toogood to present Muse, an artfully composed new collection of wallpaper showing during Salone del Mobile.

Muse explores the diversity of womankind forming a painterly tableau of faces with a rich array of features, poses and expressions. Based on an original hand-painted piece of art by Toogood with sweeping brushstrokes, the collection is inspired by the concept of the female muse, with colorways that honor inspiring women such as Nobel Prize-winning physicist Marie Curie and fashion icon Coco Chanel.

This collection represents the second collaboration between the two artistry-forward brands. With a mutual interest in exploring the immersive, expressive nature of the world around them, each illustration develops a storied character. The concept for Muse originated after Calico Wallpaper co-founders Nick and Rachel Cope observed an installation of Toogood’s illustrations during Salone del Mobile 2018. So this new series brings them all back full circle.

“Faye Toogood is an artist we deeply respect for her artful approach to design,” explains Rachel Cope. “Muse is an expressive homage to the feminine in all its forms. It’s our second collection together and an ongoing dialogue we’ve been exploring between hand-painted artwork and digital technologies.”

For Muse, a section of the detailed artwork is set against neutral background colors to create a series of six colorways. Using Calico Wallpaper’s precise digital technology, the selection of artwork is transformed into a custom-fit mural. As a result, each installation will be unique—highlighting the collection’s celebration of individuality that is fundamental to the design.

“For Muse, I wanted to impart the notion of observing and sketching lines and forms of the face; to capture women in all of their diversity, their profiles, details of their eyes, the chin and the cheek,” says Toogood. “No face is painted in detail, yet there is a distinctive character to each of them.”

With such talents at the helm, it’s no wonder that this figurative collab would turn wallpaper into literal works of art. In fact, it figures.