In 1953, on a kitchen table in a rented London flat, a young mother spent ten pounds on wood, fabric and dye and built herself a printing screen. She had seen a photograph of Audrey Hepburn wearing a headscarf in Roman Holiday, noticed Italian girls wearing something similar on a family trip, and decided she could make her own. She rode the bus to John Lewis on Oxford Street, worked up the nerve to speak to the buyer, and sold dozens of scarves that same afternoon. By 1961 the operation had long since outgrown the kitchen table and moved to Wales. Her name was Laura. Her husband, who built the printing equipment while she designed the prints, was Bernard. Between them they built one of the most recognisable names in British interiors: Laura Ashley.
A pattern language built on the everyday
The newest arrivals under the Laura Ashley name carry the same instinct that built the brand: pattern that feels lived in rather than staged. Pussy Willow, in Seaspray, is a classic Laura Ashley floral reworked for a cooler, more contemporary palette. Harthill Daisy, in Ochre Yellow, takes a small, delicate motif and lets the colour do the talking instead of the scale. Both are part of a new collection built explicitly to bring the brand's signature romantic charm into rooms that do not look remotely like 1953.
Pussy Willow, Seaspray, Laura Ashley
Harthill Daisy, Ochre Yellow, Laura Ashley
Two more from the same collection push the range further either side of a floral. Ashstead Damask, in Hedgerow, is inspired by traditional block printing, a more formal, symmetrical pattern for a room that wants structure. Lingmell Trail, in Pale Sable, goes the other way entirely: a loose, painterly trail with none of the damask's precision, closer to a watercolour sketch than a repeat.
Ashstead Damask, Hedgerow, Laura Ashley
Lingmell Trail, Pale Sable, Laura Ashley
The archive is still doing the talking
Some of the strongest designs on the site right now are not new at all, they are drawn from Laura Ashley's own archive and simply given a fresh colourway. Giselle is a contemporary stylised floral of green allium flowers on curving stems, first launched decades ago as part of a spring collection and held in the archive ever since. Uffington Roses began life as a fabric sample rather than a wallpaper, a naturalistic print of roses, peonies and foliage that has since been reworked for the wall.
Giselle, Hedgerow, Laura Ashley
Uffington Roses, Plaster Pink, Laura Ashley
Tuilieries, in Sage Green, has an even longer history: first introduced in 2002 as a furnishing fabric, drawing on an antique Toile de Jouy print in the archive, and it still carries that French, monotonal restraint today. Hemingway tells a similar story from a different decade, launched in the 2000s as part of a home furnishings collection and still easy to live with in this fresh, tonal colourway. Neither design needed reinventing to feel current, they only needed the right colour brought back into the light.
Tuilieries, Sage Green, Laura Ashley
Hemingway, Seaspray, Laura Ashley
One grand gesture, and two quieter ones
Not every Laura Ashley design is content to sit quietly on the wall. Belvedere is a full mural, classically ornate, with peacocks perched among timeless florals and weaving branches, the kind of design that turns a stairwell or a bedroom wall into the whole point of the room.
Belvedere mural, Laura Ashley
From the brand's Volume One collection, two quieter designs make the opposite argument just as well. Elderwood, in Natural, is a traditional chinoiserie print of birds and trees, calm and tranquil rather than showy. Pussy Willow, in Moss Green, is one of the brand's most recognisable designs full stop, bunches of pussy willow set against a relaxing, neutral ground. Loud or quiet, all three are unmistakably the same house.
Elderwood, Natural, Laura Ashley
Pussy Willow, Moss Green, Laura Ashley
Ready to bring Laura Ashley into your home?
Explore the full Laura Ashley wallpaper collection for more from the archive and the newest arrivals alike. Every design mentioned here can be ordered as a sample first from its own product page, worth doing given how much these prints can shift under different light. Visit our sample service page to get started.
