A Journey of Inspiration: The Craft of Cole & Son
Cole & Son have become synonymous with great British craftsmanship. Founded in 18th century by the son of a Cambridgeshire merchant, Cole & Son continues to champion its founder’s discerning taste and innovative foresight. John Perry, the brand’s founder, established the company as a standard of industry innovation. Groundbreaking techniques such as creating tactile prints and developing a method for mimicking satin wallpapers were instrumental at cementing Cole & Son as a central figure of British design.
Cassandra has long been an admirer of their work and has often refreshed her personal and professional spaces with their iconic wallpapers. For her La Belle France collection, Cassandra was thrilled to discover that Cole & Son were inspired by the French ‘Fables de La Fontaine’ which also inspired her Frog Fontaine necklace pendant.
Cole & Son’s Versailles wallpaper is inspired by the classic French ‘Fables de La Fontaine’. The print is bursting with a menagerie of animals and birds dancing in between luxurious greenery and trees.
Cassandra came upon the ‘Fables de La Fontaine’ when exploring the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. A château of unrivalled elegance and historical significance, Vaux-le-Vicomte, was created by Nicholas Fouquet and his good friend, Jean de la Fontaine. Within the elegant halls and meticulously landscaped gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte, La Fontaine discovered not only artistic inspiration but also a sanctuary for his literary musings. The château’s beauty and creative ambiance became an indelible part of his literary journey, leaving a profound mark on his storytelling.
In a similar fashion to Cassandra’s design process, the team at Cole & Son see travel as essential to their creative process and often travel abroad to find inspiration from different countries and cultures. Carley Bean, Cole & Son’s Design Director explains that the team’s design ‘process starts with research. It’s so important to experience things through one’s own eyes so the team takes lots of photographs, we might sketch out rough ideas, noting key areas of interest. Once we’re all together in the studio, we collate everyone’s ideas, pinning them up on our walls to create one giant mood board. We then look for synergies and themes in what has been collated, which allows us to start building the themes and areas we’d like to explore in the collection.’
Cole & Son’s Versailles wallpaper is available in various
colourways and can be viewed here.
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