You only need to look through any design magazine to see that Interior design is as much about creating a lifestyle as co-ordinating objects and furniture that just match.
There is a huge trend towards nostalgia in design; a longing to return to the days when afternoon tea meant home baked scones with homemade strawberry jam enjoyed on pretty bone china, maybe even with a doiley or two!, rather than a cup of instant coffee and a kit-kat! A time of home-making rather than home-breaking, when family mattered, when the simple things in life were valued, instead of the latest computer game.
When i saw this new tile collection from Welbeck it made me positively well up with nostagia! I was back to making Laura Ashley patchwork quilts, sat in my old Aunt Nancy's scullery in Wales, who's bedroom wallpaper was big blown roses that, as a small child, i could see scary faces in! Memories of the smell of wood being stoked in the range and fresh baked Welsh cakes.
Now, of course, this won't be for everybody. The modernists amongst us who love clean sharp line and minimalism will not be jumping up and down with enthusiasm, but for those of us who LOVE Cath Kidston, Cabbages and Roses, Kate Forman and the like, this will get our kettle's whistling!!
These tiles would be just as at home used in traditonal cottage lavatories as a splash back, or in country kitchens behind the Aga mixed in with a dresser heaving with Emma Bridgewater china, wild flowers in a crackle glazed jug, ticking blinds and old mismatched chairs and a painted table.....creating a lifestyle? You bet!
For more information on this gorgeous new collection please email me on alison@alchemyofdesign.co.uk.
