Some wallpaper houses are institutions, with a century of archive behind them. Brand McKenzie is something rarer and more personal: two people. Richard Brand and Kerry McKenzie put their surnames over the door when they founded the studio on the strength of eighteen years' combined experience in interiors, and the work has all the personality you would expect of a venture with no committee to answer to. Everything is designed and made in Britain, and printed to order, which is to say each roll is run off specially for you rather than waiting in a warehouse, a small saving in waste and a quiet promise that what arrives feels made rather than merely bought.
Their stated ambition is disarming in its simplicity: to coax people into being braver with their walls. In an age of the safe and the greige, that turns out to be a surprisingly radical proposition.
Walls with a Story to Tell
What makes the brand impossible to confuse with anyone else is that its designs are not really patterns so much as scenes. These are hand-drawn, densely imagined worlds, and they come populated. Expect to meet dapper leopards in top hats, sea creatures enjoying a quiet cigarette, immaculately dressed animals strutting through Paris, and whole jungles and disco palaces that give up more the longer you look at them. The debut collection, Tropical Daze, set the tone with its mystical islands and lush jungles; later outings such as Wild Life and the gloriously silly Groove Inferno, all cosmic discos and cocktail-hour decadence, have only turned up the theatre.
Balancing Act, Nightfall, Brand McKenzie
"This is wallpaper with a story to tell, and a full cast of characters to tell it."
Punk Rocks, Wine, Brand McKenzie Wild Life
Pond Life, Willow, Brand McKenzie Wild Life
There is real craft beneath the whimsy. Working with a team of British artists, Brand McKenzie treats the wall as something close to a canvas, and describes its designs, nicely, as atemporal, made to outlast the passing fads rather than chase them. The effect is less decoration than immersion: a wall that rewards a second and a third glance, and reliably starts a conversation.
"A Brand McKenzie wall is not a backdrop. It is the most entertaining thing in the room."
Sea Life, Teal & Coral, Brand McKenzie Heart Deco
The Art Deco Hills, Teal & Fushia, Brand McKenzie Heart Deco
Permission to Have Fun
The wider mood could hardly suit them better. After years of playing it safe, homes are rediscovering the pleasures of personality, wit and a little escapism, and few things deliver all three as immediately as a wall that transports you somewhere rather more fabulous than a wet Tuesday.
Because these are statement designs, the way to use them is to let them be the statement. Give a design a wall of its own and keep its surroundings calm, so the artwork can do what it came to do. A dining room, a study, a bar corner or a hallway all make fine stages, and the downstairs cloakroom, that most reliable little theatre, is the perfect place to be as outrageous as you dare. Put the escapism where you most want to escape to.
Tropical Reflections, Brand McKenzie Tropical Daze
The Grand Pour, Velvet Sapphire, Brand McKenzie Groove Inferno
Two practical notes are worth having. Because each roll is printed to order there is a short wait, and the papers are made specially for you, so they cannot be returned; order a sample first and you can commit with real confidence. And take some pleasure in the fact that, for all their fantasy, these designs are drawn and printed here in Britain by the two people whose names are on them.
Happy Hour, Night, Brand McKenzie
The Glitter Ranch, Desert Tan, Brand McKenzie Groove Inferno
Not every wall wants to whisper politely. Some want to put on a top hat, pour a cocktail and tell you a story. For those, there is Brand McKenzie.
Disco Lemons, Cotton, Brand McKenzie Groove Inferno
The Parlour, Vanilla Blush, Brand McKenzie Groove Inferno
Ready to Be a Shade Braver?
Browse the full Brand McKenzie collection, or see how it sits alongside other bold, maximalist names we stock, like Tres Tintas, for more statement walls. As always, order a sample first, since these papers are printed to order and can't be returned.
