Exploring texture with Lincrusta
Light (and) relief
Just back from half-term holiday. Dragging the family through the blandness of
baggage reclaim at Heathrow, I felt just a tad flat. My holiday reading, on the
other hand, had transported me to more flamboyant decorative eras, exploring
plasterwork and mouldings from New York to Brussels.


Thus inspired, I’ve returned with an unbounded appetite for intricate mouldings
and reliefs, and back into work at Wallpaper Towers I’m drawn irresistibly to the
remarkable Lincrusta collection of luxurious wallpapers, dados and friezes.
The deep moulded Lincrusta look has been quietly turning flat walls into tactile,
detailed, living pattern since 1877, with classic designs and contemporary for all
kinds of interiors from villas and hotels to the White House and 6 luxury-class
cabins on the Titanic.
You can paint Lincrusta hundreds of ways. Matt emulsions turn morning light into
soft shadows, distressed metallic paints conjour the look of Art Nouveau Barcelona.
And the look changes with your lighting, with shadows shifting from one side to
another as the day goes by, or glinting under an accent lamp.
Lovely Lincrusta was even used in John D. Rockefeller’s house in New York City.
And if Lincrusta was a good investment for Rockefeller…