de Gournay

Masters of Craft: de Gournay Wall Coverings

de Gournay is a family company specializing in the creation of the world’s finest had painted wallpapers. Long renowned for their vibrant Chinoiserie, Japanese & Korean and Panoramic collections, the brand continues to forge a reputation for artisanal skill and technical brilliance in the realization of ever more intrepid designs for walls, fabrics and porcelain.

Founded by Claud Cecil Gurney with his nephew Dominic Evans-Freke in 1984, and now joined by his daughters Hannah and Rachel, de Gournay brings interiors to life with engaging reinterpretations of historic hand painted papers and arresting contemporary collections: applying their bespoke expertise to projects with the leading designers of the age.

With unceasing commitment to creative innovation and recruiting the talents of true artists, de Gournay’s development of specialist embroidery, paint effects, metallic gilding and textile embellishment, has seen them transition from cult niche to industry leaders: ensuring their sustained position at the vanguard of the cultural arena.

Whether creating a Chinoiserie room, a 19th century French Scenic, an Art Nouveau or Art Deco interior, a gold-leaf ceiling or a complete Chinese Export dinner service, each person who plays a part in bringing this dream to life is trained by and works full-time for de Gournay. Their artists and artisans are experts in the types of clay mixtures, methods of glaze application and temperatures of firing for any piece of porcelain or, indeed, the correct choice of base paper, decorative detail, paints and colours for hand-painted wallpapers of all periods. This profound knowledge of techniques, processes and materials, down to the smallest of details, constitutes the unique strength of de Gournay.

At AMF we took an inside look into two of their recent projects. The Belvoir Castle – historic seat of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland. Inside, de Gournay was tasked with history to life with the recreation of an original hand painted wallpaper. Installed within the castles ‘Wellington’ suite, so named for a visit made by the famed duke in 1843, a vivid oriental garden painted in richly coloured tones on a Green ground was reinterpreted with de Gournay’s bespoke expertise. In addition, de Gournay reimagined the adjoining suite with hand painted designs onto an Apricot coloured ground hung within existing gilt mouldings.

The second project was during Paris Deco-Off. Created within their Paris showroom apartment, they created schemes with embellished depictions of a treetop canopy and the sea floor. Installed within the twin salons of the de Gournay apartment at the rear of the showroom on Rue des Saints-Pères, fabrics from Lelievre complete each interior alongside pieces from Christian Schumacher, Pierre Frey, Dedar and Beardmore hardware, schemes executed by de Gournay’s in-house design team.

For a look into de Gournay's extensive interior portfolio visit: www.degournay.com

EIKO ISHIOKA

ART QUAKE