Mini Moderns celebrate 19th century architecture in the City of Light
Whilst Mini Moderns founders Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire are best known for their love of mid-century design, to create their latest wallpaper they set their sights on a previous century.
Celebrating 19th century Parisian architecture, Emma’s Apartment depicts an array of edifices and rooftops, capturing the mood of one of their favourite cities. The design is the latest release from Mini Moderns’ TRAVELOGUE Collection, which draws inspiration from two decades of the designers’ field trips and holidays.
The design makes a particular focus of the patterns formed by the various configurations of zinc rooftops – an architectural feature peculiar to Paris. In fact, it seems that these roofs have long been a fascination for the design duo.
Mark first marvelled at the glittering zinc canopy over Paris in the nineties when, as a designer maker, he delivered mirrors to the furniture department of Galeries Lafayette. As an architecture geek, he was fascinated to discover that Baron Haussmann, tasked with remodelling central Paris in the mid-nineteenth century, used zinc to clad the roofs to speed up the building process.
Discussing this subject recently, around the dinner table at their friend Emma's typical Parisian apartment, Mark and Keith knew that this would be the subject of their next wallpaper and that it should be named in honour of their friend in Paris.
Keith explains that their production method further enhances the story behind the design. “The advantage of printing using the traditional flexo method is that we can employ rich metallic inks to highlight the architectural details of the zinc roofs. Using different metallic hues, we have evoked the atmosphere of Paris by day and night, and through all four seasons.”
Emma’s Apartment is available in 6 colourways: High Tide & Zinc, Weathered Cedar & Copper, Stone, Olive & Gold, Harvest Orange and Seagrass & Gold.
Available from: minimoderns.com