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 five designs from the ‘Collector’s Collection’ which was developed when Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, invited Blackpop to respond to the museum’s collections, which include architects’ drawings, paintings and objets d’art. This pattern, Capriccio, is derived from parts of Canaletto’s paintings of Venice, reassembled and reworked.