Worth shelling out for: scallop-motif interiors
Worth shelling out for: scallop-motif interiors
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1/5 £795
Ariel coral velvet shell chair at Graham and Green.
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2/5 £6.12 per tile
Neisha Crosland encaustic floor tiles for Artisans of Devizes.
Elliott White
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3/5 £95
John Derian’s Captain Thomas Brown’s Shells cushion at Designers Guild.
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4/5 £40 a roll
Rene Nightfall paper, Graham & Brown.
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5/5 £140 a roll
Deco Martini wallpaper in Blush at Divine Savages - also comes in arsenic green and teal.
Furniture and accessories created from salvaged shells set in resin were presented by award-winning London designer Bethan Gray at Milan Design Week. Star of the show was a table made from scallop shells trimmed into an elegant geometric design.
Scallops are everywhere in interiors right now, highlighted as a pattern trend by influential Clippings design website.
For London designer Neisha Crosland, they’re an enduring pattern motif, linked with scales and crescents. Her elegant, understated designs are not only beautiful and emotive but they work effectively as pattern repeats over wide areas.
“Scallops are everywhere in nature — rose petals, leaf edges, and of course the shell itself —they are part of my visual language,” says Crosland, who has produced encaustic floor and wall tiles for Artisans of Devizes, in a handmade shell-like pattern in four colourways.
Collecting shells in Dorset inspired the sand-like ripples on a range of hand-thrown porcelain for British-brand Portmeirion by cook/designer Sophie Conran. Linens, silver and crystal cut with radiant scallops complete the look.
In the roaring Twenties, decorators in London and New York loved the curvy, interlocking patterns of shells — an Art Deco staple on metallic and lacquered wall finishes and exotic furniture inlays.
For a modern lookalike, Deco Martini comes in blush, arsenic green or teal, from east London design duo Divine Savages, on fabric, wallpaper and a lamp shade. Or try Rene Nightfall, £50 a roll at Graham & Brown.
A traditional pattern called “fish scale” uses interlocking tiles in scallop shapes.
The Siren range from Topps Tiles is a lovely mix of high-glaze blues and greens. Fired Earth does a sophisticated version in handcut white marble with grey veins.
The Douglas Watson Studio in Henley-on-Thames hand-paints square tiles with fish scales in seven colourways.
At Soane Britain in Pimlico Road, dedicated champion of British craft Lulu Lytle finds and promotes craftspeople practising traditional skills.
The country’s last rattan weavers, in Somerset, create a shell-shaped chair with a matching base of rattan, or a simple frame of hand-forged iron.
American John Derian’s “collaged” designs include delicate shells on paper and fabric at Designers Guild. Linwood does a hand-drawn fabric shell design.
Or add a line of scallops to a blind for that handmade decorator touch — try Homestyle Blinds for an effect like rounded castle ramparts.
