M Essential
For the year of the snake, de Gournay has teamed up with independent designer brand M Essential to give traditional Chinese wallpapers a contemporary twist. Jointly presented by both brands, a new hand-painted wallpaper design ‘You Yuan’ - meaning wandering in the garden - integrates modern Chinese design beyond fashion into interior lifestyle.
de Gournay took the garden scenes first appearing at M Essential’s recent shows as impetus of the collaboration, deconstructing and reorganising the elegant elements of Chinese gardens, while at the same time enlarging the clustered wild meadows in a freehand style with transitional negative space.
The new design is realised on tarnished silver gilded silk, with features the addition of a subtle grid pattern to enrich the background layer. Unveiled by a strolling crane, the panels follow the abstract, meandering river through a dramatic landscape.
The new design will debut in M Essential’s new store in Shanghai Qiantan Taikooli.
Under the detailed planning of multidisciplinary design practice Chaos Programme, eighteen non-repeating panels are framed as folding screens and spread across the store with a minimal design layout, dividing the retail space and creating the sense of a wandering garden path.