16 Mar Made of Memories
Architect and interior designer Ben Pentreath first collaborated with Morris & Co. on the Queen Square collection in 2020: now, the partnership continues with Cornubia, which takes broadly the same approach, recolouring and reimagining classic Morris designs.
The collection is named after the Latin for ‘Cornwall’ and references Pentreath’s Cornish roots and childhood associations with the West Country. “I was keen to develop a range that had a different mood and atmosphere to Queen Square – perhaps sunnier and brighter. I began, therefore, with a whole new palette – colours which are on my mind at the moment: tangerine, lemon yellow, primrose, soft pinks, blues and bright apple greens – the colours of spring and summer.
“Maybe intentional, maybe accidental, but these were the colours and patterns of my mid 70s childhood all over again.”
The 18 fabrics and 18 wallcoverings include two patterns from 1905 that haven’t been in production for decades, ‘Woodland Weeds’ (pictured top), depicting a cornucopia of flowers and ‘Merton’ (formerly known as ‘Eden’), featuring stylised pomegranates and tulips. Pentreath has brought his eye for colour to each new design, with combinations including burnt orange and chartreuse, pink and leaf green, and summery yellows and lime-greens.
See the collection in the showroom during London Design Week 2022, and look out, too, for a new range of Morris & Co. paints, with a palette inspired by 160 years of Morris designs.