Market Talent: Clever Bird

Karen. D. Singh -- Interior Design, 11/1/2008

Although she had been designing wallpaper for only a year, Anna Hill decided to take her wares to market. Despite the rush, it was a prudent decision: Her 17-piece collection, jam-packed with swirling patterns, simplified botanicals, and winged creatures, had attendees at September's Tent London regarding her as a pro.

Hill is a recent graduate of England's Bath Spa University, where she specialized in fabric printing for apparel, working with large-scale patterns. "Working big is less restricting and much more enjoyable," she says. "I feel I have more freedom to use bold colors and shapes and also have fun with the designs." But once she applied the same principles to creating wallpaper, she knew she'd found her calling. A pattern such as Tiger proves her point. The oversize design, like others of hers, is without a repeat. Fully customizable, it's printed on panels scaled to fit a full wall or work as an accent.

A job archiving historical wallpaper for a manufacturer in Bath inspired Hill to create Damask Repeat and Damask & Birds. Large scale, line-drawn Little Dickie Birds looks deceptively simple, but the designer freely admits how time-consuming it is to give each non-repeating bird a distinct character and personality. Hall's predisposition for the avian soars in Birds & Swirls and Fancy Pheasant, both of which feature her fine feathered friends flying across a stylized floral backdrop. 44-776-317-1281; anna-hill.co.uk. circle 408