There is a very old romance to the jungle. The painter Henri Rousseau conjured his lush, impossible jungles without ever leaving Paris, dreaming them up from the botanical gardens and his own imagination, and he understood something the rest of us feel instinctively: the jungle is where the wild things are, a place of mystery, abundance and a little danger. That romance found its most glamorous expression in the mid century, in the banana leaf drama of the great American hotels, and it has never lost its grip.
Unlike a simple leaf print, a true jungle wallpaper is a whole world. It is dense, layered and inhabited, and it turns a wall into a scene rather than a pattern. Here is where the romance comes from, and the designs on the site that carry it best.
"A jungle on the wall is a small act of escape, a whole wild world in a single room."
The Lure of the Untamed
Inhabited is the word that matters, and the best of these are named for the creatures in them. Monteverde in Safari, from Wander by Coordonné, takes its name from the cloud forest in Costa Rica and trails palms on fine stems with monkeys, toucans, jaguars and cranes scattered between them. Belize, from Aventura by Casamance, is denser and more graphic, a thicket of tropical palms with leopards perched inside it. Monkey Canopia in Stone, from Miria by Josephine Munsey, hides two monkeys in a tangle of palms and painted them, in her own words, in a naive style, which is precisely the idiom Rousseau worked in. And Les Grenouilles de Chavroches, from Décors & Panoramiques by Arte, is simply the frogs of Chavroches, perched here and there through the leaves and easy to miss until you look.
Monteverde, Safari by Coordonné
Belize, Aventura by Casamance
Monkey Canopia, Stone by Josephine Munsey
Les Grenouilles de Chavroches by Arte
Drama, and Plenty of It
The jungle look sits right at the heart of the maximalist mood, our renewed appetite for rooms with colour, life and a sense of theatre after years of restraint. It is unapologetically bold, and that is the point. Mombasa, from the Breegan Jane collection at Clarke & Clarke, is drawn from the jungle vegetation and white sand of the Kenyan coast and is as loud and joyful as a wall gets. Aduanero in Cactus, from Sarape, masses banana leaves, heliconias and spiky succulents beneath a low orange sun. Its name is the Spanish for a customs officer, which happens to be exactly what France called Rousseau: Le Douanier, because collecting tolls was his day job. Both are panels made to a size, so measure the wall first and we will help you work it out.
Mombasa by Clarke & Clarke
Aduanero, Cactus by Coordonné
"A jungle turns a wall into a scene, and even the smallest room into an adventure."
How and Where to Use It
Jungle designs love to make a statement, so give them room to. A lush, large scale jungle is spectacular on a single feature wall, behind a bed or across a dining room, and utterly transformative in a small, brave space like a downstairs cloakroom where you can afford to go all in. The greens and the density make it a natural in a room that opens onto the garden, blurring the line between inside and out. Keep the surroundings simple and let the jungle run riot, pairing it with natural materials, rattan and plenty of real greenery.
Two routes in are gentler than the rest. The Anna d'Andrea collection from A S Creation takes the watercolour route, scattering zebras, giraffes, leopards and flamingos across a soft sage that behaves far more calmly on a wall than the list of animals suggests. Le Monde De La Jungle, from Les Mini Mondes by Caselio, goes further still and gives up colour altogether for fine pencil drawings of palms, giraffes and birds, a photographic safari rendered in grey.
Anna d'Andrea by A S Creation
Le Monde De La Jungle by Caselio
Look to Matthew Williamson, Clarke & Clarke and Harlequin for jungle designs from the elegant to the exuberant, and order a sample first to see those rich greens properly in your own light.
Ready to Bring the Wild Indoors?
Browse the full Jungle collection, or narrow it down in Tropical, Palm Trees & Leaves and Animal & Insects.
