Interiors: Discover the hot decor trend for AW18, the Night Garden, a darker take on florals and prints
This autumn, the decorating trend that’s really caught fire is dark, exotic, sensual, tactile, moody and seriously sophisticated.
Full-on and fantastical, “the Night Garden” aesthetic melds two global interiors trends – prints and botanicals – and pushes them into the shadows. And by that, we mean inky blues, deep moss greens and, yes, definitely black.
House of Hackney is the high priestess of playful extravagance (houseofhackney.com). Always ahead of the curve, its “black” wallpaper section has this look down to a tee. In the mix are gold birds of paradise among trailing bamboo entwined foliage, against a midnight background, and psychedelic flowers the colour of petrol. its Indienne collection subverts the traditional floral with its subtle sultry reds and greens on black.
Tasselled chairs in Indienne and Wild Card prints might sit on either side of a coal-black hearth, accompanied by House of Hackney must-have tasselled lampshades above Cheetah and Macaque lampstands. If you’re attempting maximalist, take your cues from these masters, or simply update a velvet sofa with a scattering of House of Hackney cushions.
House of Hackney’s Majorelle ‘Tilia’ lampshade in petrol (£375) on top of its Cheetah Lampstand (£645)
Velvet is the tactile and timeless fabric of the Night Garden. Showstopper velvets come from Angel & Boho (angelandboho.com). “For the love of green” is its Boho & Co collection of fabrics and wallpapers for autumn/winter. When creating its prints, the duo takes inspiration from its “local Essex plants”, and its new Jardin des Oiseaux print translates beautifully to green-on-black velvet. Use it for cushions or upholster a full sofa and style up in a room with a matt black dining table and chairs. Go further by adding trailing ivy.
Graham & Brown, the heritage British wallpaper company in Lancashire, has chosen a rich and textural moody blue as its paint colour of the year (grahambrown.com). Called Tiru, it is the background colour to its wallpaper of the year, Tori, both an inky teal. Tori wallpaper is a glamorous expression of chinoiserie, featuring exotic birds among delicate leaves and flowers, that cleverly achieves as close to a handpainted look and feel as it’s possible to get.
As well as turning to the east for 2019, Graham & Brown has been taking inspiration from the dreamlike dark tropical jungles of French post-impressionist Henri Rousseau and the colour-pops-on-black of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Graham & Brown’s wallpaper of the year 2019, Tori, £50 per roll
Master of the contemporary avant-garde is Timorous Beasties from Glasgow (timorousbeasties.com). Just launched is their range of abstract black velvets that seem to glow with neon splashes of colour. They were just one of many notable names handling black with skill at this week’s Decorex, another buzzing year for the international trade fair.
So be bold, brave and unexpected as the cold draws in this autumn/winter and enter the Night Garden.