A Coastal Walk, Reworked: Juliet Travers Launches Coastline
Heather and gorse rarely get much credit for their colour pairing, but Juliet Travers noticed it. The dusty pink of ling blooms against the acid yellow of gorse flowers, spotted on walk after walk along the British coast, has become the starting point for Ling, one of five designs in her new wallpaper collection Coastline. It is the kind of detail that only surfaces after years of looking, and that patient, attentive way of seeing runs through the whole collection.
Ling in Ochre and Sage by Juliet Travers.
Travers grew up on a farm in Scotland, one of six children, and traces her love of drawing back to her mother, who painted Disney characters and storybook murals across each of their bedroom doors. That instinct for pattern followed her through her training in Printed Textiles for Interior Furnishings at Edinburgh College of Art, and into years spent working for Fox Linton, Cole and Son, Colefax and Fowler and de Gournay, before she launched her own label in 2013. Her husband's family farm in Zimbabwe gave her debut collection, Safari, its subject, and the brand has carried that love of wildlife ever since, through Albion in 2014 and Essentials in 2021.
Samples from the Coastline collection by Juliet Travers
Coastline is her first new wallpaper collection in eight years, born from many holidays walking the coastal paths of Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Wales, and from her fascination with the point where land meets sea. This past year, Travers stepped back from the business to spend more time on commissions and creative development, work she calls the best part of her job. What came of it is more considered and layered than her earlier collections, hand-painted as always in watercolour and acrylic, and coloured with the soft palette of coastal plants and shifting light.
Pebble Beach in Green and Russet by Juliet Travers
Five designs are available now, each holding a specific memory of a walk. Ramble traces sea campion tangled through delicate ferns in an organic, meandering stripe, inspired by a walk with her sisters along the Pembrokeshire coast between Dale and St Davids. Pebble Beach turns wind-swept sand and rippling water into a fine geometric print, versatile enough for a whole room or a single cupboard door. Foreshore follows the rhythm of the tide, its coastal grasses appearing and disappearing as the shoreline is revealed and submerged, the design flowing across the wall much as the water does across the sand.
Sea Beech in Navy on White by Juliet Travers
The most reflective design is Sea Beech, grown from Travers's own archive of pressed seaweed. Rather than illustrate it directly, she built up thick layers of emulsion paint until the seaweed read as a leafy, hand-painted botanical, its coastal origins folded gently into the pattern. "I have adored the design process," she says, "and treasured the time I've had to delve into the archives."
Eight more designs will follow over the coming year, with matching fabrics arriving in autumn. Travers also welcomes bespoke commissions, working with clients directly on custom patterns, murals and colourways.
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Further Information:
Coastline is available now from Juliet Travers Wallpapers & Fabrics.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Juliet Travers in her studio.
All images are courtesy of the artist.