If You Love Wallpaper, Then This New Book Is for You

Fans of the London-based textiles firm de Gournay have good reason to celebrate this fall: the company has released a stunning new book, de Gournay: Hand-Painted Interiors (Rizzoli). The Technicolor work, packed with moments of grace and whimsy, features the flora, the fauna, and—yes—the occasional flock of flamingos that famously populate the brand’s coveted hand-painted wallcoverings. (There are armadas of ships too, including one depiction of Captain Cook sailing along the gilded paper walls of London’s Ned Hotel.) Projects featured in the book include those by ELLE Decor A-List designers such as Alessandra Branca and Miles Redd, among many others. Long a favorite of the fashion world—readers will also get a glimpse of Kate Moss’s walls, featuring hand-painted anemones—de Gournay’s prints have of late jumped from stylish homes onto Aquazzura shoes and dresses by Erdem.

In the book, company founder Claud Cecil Gurney tells the story of de Gournay’s beginnings—how the trained accountant, who studied economics at the University of Chicago, was able to marry his lifelong love of beauty and commerce. A search for hand-painted Chinese wallpaper for his own home led to an epiphany: He would set up his own studio. And so in 1984 de Gournay was born, originally focusing on wallcoverings inspired by 18th- and 19th-century chinoiserie papers and later branching out to the prints and scenes the company is well known for today. Read on for a few of our favorite rooms from the new book.