Dimensions: de Gournay wallpapers are produced as panels in any height up to 4.3m. Total panel length is 0.60 more than the chosen design height when ordering via the straight run method and 0.30m more than your wall height when ordering via the tailored method. These wallpapers are 0.915m wide after trimming except where marked. Customisation of design elements, colourways and panel heights are fully available though subject to additional charge.

Collection: Chinoiserie

Details: de Gournay’s Portobello design combines mature flowering trees with tall bamboo but maintains an open feel through both of these elements being less densely employed than in many other designs. Meanwhile the ground has a relatively plain style and the pretty birds and butterflies eschew the larger more ornate varieties seen in Chatsworth and Earlham making this a versatile pattern often used with contemporary interpretations.

Bamboo was often employed in Chinese wallpapers because of its importance both practically and spiritually to the Chinese. It is used widely as a construction material; in Chinese medicine extracts from it treat infections and heal wounds, while in Chinese culture it is one of the four plants - along with plum blossom, orchids and chrysanthemums - collectively referred to as the Four Noble Ones, which represent the four seasons, and in Confucian ideology the four aspects of the junzi (‘noble one’). Along with the pine tree and plum blossom, bamboo is also admired for its perseverance under harsh conditions with these three together known as the ‘Three Friends In Winter’ as a result.

Wonderful examples of historic papers using significant bamboo in the design remain at Belton House, Leicestershire and in both the Queen of Scot’s and Wellington Bedrooms at Chatsworth, Derbyshire.

Installation 1: Bennett Leifer Interior Design. Photography by Marco Rica
Installation 2: Photography by de Gournay 
Installation 3: Interior design by Lesley Cooke design
Installation 4: Interior design by Collins Interiors. Photography by Natahan Schroder
Installation 5: William Waldron Photography
Installation 6: Interior design by Gabby Deeming. Photography by Paul Raeside
Installation 7: Interior design by Ulrich Tredup. Photography by Andreas von Einsiedel