Blackpop, created by Maxine Hall and in partnership with Paula Moss, is an independent British label specializing in the design of elegantly distressed wallpaper, fabric and upholstered furniture. Hall’s approach to design is creative process of dismantling, reworking and layering. The wallpaper designs are characterised by a blend of historical imagery and motifs with abstract mark-making to create varied tones, intricate patterns and an effect of opulence. Hall’s designs have an edgy punk-like take on her historical sources, which include Tudor portraits, abstract painting and the rhythms of jazz.

This wallpaper is one of three designs from ‘The Tudors – Deconstructed’ collection. Blackpop was invited to work with the National Portrait Gallery and chose to work with their collection of Tudor portraits. The patterns were derived from high-resolution images of the paintings, with Tudor motifs and multi-layered backgrounds which Hall created digitally. The portraits were further deconstructed and layered with shapes inspired by the work of Miro and Kandinsky which were filled in with pixels from the high- res images of the relevant portraits. This pattern, Mary, is derived from high resolution images of portraits of Queen Mary I, dissected and reworked, and layered with brush marks and motifs from the original works.