Stunning maximalist wallcoverings bring the beauty, art, and power of Gjoen’s artworks into interior design
Design collective FEATHR is on a mission to fill the world with more art and less decoration. FEATHR roam the world collaborating with contemporary artists to create original wallpaper and fabrics.
Their latest collaboration is with Norwegian artist Magnus Gjoen whose work fuses a fine art approach with a street and pop aesthetic. His pieces draw on history and allusion, using existing artworks or fragments from the past to create a fresh, unique contemporary aesthetic.
Working with FEATHR, Gjoen has created a collection of five contemporary wallpapers from his original artworks. Each of the wallpapers offers a modern spin on old primarypieces or manipulate powerful and strong objects into something fragile yet beautiful.
Inspired by maximalist traditions ranging from the Arts & Craft movement through to Venetian Rococo and Babylonian frescoes, the ‘No Use Crying for Roses When Forests are Burning’ wallpaper uses toned stripes to create a formal structure from a lush medley of oil-painted florals. Rendered in the colors of the earth and evening – Cardamom, Azure, Jade and Saffron – ‘‘No Use Crying for Roses’ is a wallpaper to bring intensity and drama into a room.
The ‘Flower Bomb’ wallpaper brings a touch of black humor to the formality of a Georgian striped wallpaper. The design remixes a stylized bomb with classical motifs and in doing so reminds the viewer that the extremes of human existence – love and hate, war and peace, light and darkness – so often go hand in hand. Flower Bomb is available in a classical color palette of Sage, Pewter, Oat and Oxford Blue.
In ‘You Don’t Find Light by Avoiding the Darkness’, Gjoen utilizes his trademark juxtaposition of classical painting with masculine motifs. The centerpiece motif of the wallpaper is formed of two alert Dobermann Pinschers facing each other, linked by a chain and key. Oil painted florals soften the profiles of the Dobermanns, whilst the linear structure of the design brings continuity and restraint to their poised power. The nobility of the Dobermanns is matched by a color range including Vintage White, Granite, Hunter’s Green and Parlour Plum.
In the ‘A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect’ wallpaper, Gjoen uses the Baroque method of representing the cycle of life by interlacing vibrant blooms with hints of decay. This maximalist striped design features roses, gerberas, butterflies and snails entwined around beflowered skulls hidden amongst the undergrowth. ‘A Beautiful Thing is Never Perfect’ is available in Original and Monochrome, with its intense palette making it an ideal choice for bohemian, luxury interiors.
Gjoen’s artworks often use the juxtaposition to manipulate powerful objects into something more fragile. In ‘Victory Over Ignorance’, ochre stripes, recalling the bars of the border wall between the USA and Mexico, are set against a rich tangle of flora and fauna. The trompe l’oeil effect and interaction between the stripes and florals bring the viewer to question what is restrained and what is free, and where the real power lies.
Tom Puukko founder at FEATHR, commented, “We fell in love with Magnus’ work the second we saw it. His mixing of contemporary imagery and fine art techniques challenges the notion of what can be made into art – which fits perfectly with our mission of more art and less decoration.”
Magnus Gjoen commented, “I am always interested in creating work that actually takes part in people’s lives and is not stored away and rarely seen. With my artworks and sculptures, I aim to create elements that evoke reactions from the viewers and also transport a certain feeling. I try to create a conversation with onlookers and what they see and evoke new ideas. This collaboration with Feathr is a perfect alignment with my work, bringing contemporary twists to tired interiors.”
The FEATHR x Magnus Gjoen collection is available on 50cm x 10m rolls, starting from £129/€149/$169 per roll. The collection is available on a range of materials suitable for residential and commercial projects, including non-woven, textile and metallic wallcoverings.
All designs are available with worldwide delivery from www.feathr.com or via the FEATHR worldwide retail network.
Finnish design collective FEATHR is on a mission to fill the world with more art and less decoration. FEATHR roam the world collaborating with contemporary artists to create original wallpaper and fabrics. Founded in 2015 by husband and wife team, Anne & Tom Puukko, along with Creative Director, Oliver Green, FEATHR is based in the Finnish artist’s community of Fiskars. They currently work with over 80 artists, including abstract artist Reeta Ek, street artist Marcos Navarro, tattooist Liam Sparkes, Berlin graffiti duo 44flavours and renowned American abstract artist Kiki Slaughter.
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Photo credit: FEATHR/Magnus Gjoen
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