design et al are delighted to announce that Robin Sprong Wallpapers have been shortlisted for Wallcovering Award within The International Design and Architecture Awards 2018.
The tropical leaf wallpaper range was designed by Robin Sprong Wallpaper’s senior designer, Franco Moz. In 2017, a client approached Robin Sprong to design a custom wallpaper to reflect their love of nature and the outdoors. As a leader in custom wallpaper design in South Africa, senior designer, Franco Moz, took up this task.
The interior designers, Fox Browne Creative were tasked with refurbishing the Phinda Vlei Bush Lodge, and they were looking for a design that would ‘mirror’ the lush tropical foliage in the interior styling. As chief designer at Robin Sprong, Franco took up the challenge to create this custom wall art for the client. As a nature lover, who spent his childhood holidays on the tropical coastline of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa, Franco knew exactly what he needed to do.
The design needed to be bold and dramatic, the leaves life sized and almost tangible. It had to look realistic enough to feel like you are surrounded by a forest, yet painterly and stylised, so not to feel like you are looking at a photograph of a banana orchard. It had to have a delicate balance between realism and art, yet it also needed depth and contrast to make it feel like you are looking at a living forest rather than flat wallpaper.
The scale of the design also needed to break the traditional boundaries of wallpaper design. To feel authentic, it had to incorporate life size elements in a repeatable pattern that would be equally affective on a large dining room wall as well as in a small powder room. With a standard scale design, the repeats are only every 2 meters on the width, and 4 meters in height, it easily conceals its roots as a wallpaper design, and feels more like a mural. It also creates the illusion that the banana trees are placed at random, to emulate the nature of a real forest scene.
The colours of the greens were specifically toned down to create the ‘camo’ effect. This was selected to reflect the African bush, relating it to not only the tropical areas of the coast, but also the savannas and the African bushveld. The occasional appearance of a bunch of bananas added a fun element. It encapsulates the strong botanical atmosphere of a summer paradise – and as wallpaper or stretched canvas – is able to truly bring the outdoors into your modern-day home decor.