Sanderson and Giles Deacon Find Beauty in the Decayed
The 19th-century English-American painter Thomas Cole was obsessed with how things evolve and decay. An opponent of the Industrial Revolution, he revered the natural world. His series of five paintings, “The Course of An Empire,” currently in the collection of the New-York Historical Society, is a contemplation of man’s inclination to destroy his own creations, and of what remains in his wake.
If Cole were around today, he might have found Sanderson’s latest collaboration with the British couture designer and illustrator Giles Deacon intriguing. Perhaps the two artists, along with Claire Vallis, creative director of Sanderson, might have enjoyed pondering together how decline makes way for new beginnings. “A reflection of the ‘unstately’ home” is how Deacon and Vallis label their collection. “Where time has weathered and decayed its traditional beauty to reveal new beguiling charm.”
Deacon and Vallis aim to honor this philosophy by imbuing homes with a collection of wallpaper and fabrics that mixes archival Deacon, archival Sanderson, and something brand new. The old “decay” is visible in Pygmalion, a trompe l’oeil alabaster wallpaper whose rococo depictions of dolphins, artichokes, and baroque architectural details are framed by theater curtains. Or the wallpaper Aurelia’s Grail, in which the heroine is surrounded by such beasts as unicorns and Japanese chin dogs. What’s new is in the geometric patterns in Dazzle, and in how Deacon added delicate ribbons to the rose stems in Cupid’s Beau.
Wallpaper
sandersondesigngroup.com
“Stately and unstately are equally important,” Deacon tells T&C. “I have a friend who told me he’d like to put Pygmalion in his tiny flat in Waterloo—an unstately apartment with a grand element. That level of playfulness will sing.” In time the effect of the collection may be different from what it is now, just like Cole’s subjects—beautiful nonetheless.
This story appears in the April 2024 issue of Town & Country.
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