Anemoni del Mattino

I drew the Anemoni del Mattino wallpaper thinking of the suspended light that comes before full daylight, when the wild flowers of the Mediterranean still seem to be holding the breath of the night. Anemones and ranunculi open here and there, with closed buds and slender stems that curve unhurriedly, in a small-scale motif spread naturally across the whole surface, with no centre and no hierarchy: like a meadow seen close up, where every flower has its moment.

The drawing takes up the precision of the old botanical plate, then loosens its rigour into a freer, contemporary painterly line, never stiff, never decorative in the traditional sense. The ivory ground holds petals of antique pink and terracotta, golden and ochre hearts, while plum and bottle-green stems give weight and measure, a sober counterpoint to the lightness of the buds.

I like to think that, on a working wall, this wallpaper accompanies the hours with the same calm with which it accompanies the eye: from a distance a vibrant, continuous field, close up a secret herbarium of veining and small stamens. It is a craft gesture before it is a graphic one, and in this lies the mark of WallZad: every motif is considered, never simply printed, so as to give the wall the same care that is devoted to a precious detail.