5 quick questions for illustrator Beata Boucht

Mysterious, magical and majestic — the GREY GARDENS wallpaper collection encompasses a suite of grand and oversized motifs of the gorgeous plant kingdom, designs that are certain to touch everyone who encounters them. Photowall sits down for five quick questions with Beata Boucht, the illustrator and creator behind the wallpaper collection.

Tangled Tree

1. What does your creative process look like?

I have a very research-based process; I love to completely immerse myself in a new topic and throw myself headlong into the unknown. Technically I sit down for a long time drawing with a pencil by hand. Because I tend to work in such great detail, I need a lot of time. Often I will listen to music as I work to keep my concentration. I use different techniques for colours, either watercolours or gouache; then I scan the image and finish the rest on my computer. This entire process is a prerequisite to creating the complex layers and patterns that characterize my illustrations.

2. How would you describe the collection in three words?

Wonderful, dense and mysterious

3. What was your inspiration for this collection?

In this collection I focused on trying to find irregularities in my designs and expanded them into the feeling of being in the midst of a tangled, long-forgotten garden. I was inspired by my trips to Bali and the various orangeries, gardens and greenhouses that I’ve visited all over the world. The collection was also inspired by the wild garden in the film Grey Gardens and the two female protagonists of the movie. They have that “little something extra” and are always just a bit “over the top”, exactly the style that I want my wallpapers to have, although in a slightly more comfortable setting.

4. Tell us more about your thoughts when it comes to creating wallpaper motifs!

I wanted to create wallpapers that you can lose yourself in, wallpapers where you can discover something new every time you look at them. I wanted patterns that would endure and that I wouldn’t tire of. I strove for both dynamism and harmony in each pattern. Every wallpaper motif portrays a place where you can find respite in the details and where your eyes get lost in the fantasy of the landscapes, finding a new kind a calm in the midst of the untamed wilds.

5. If you had to choose a dream place for where your wallpaper designs would be put up, where would it be?

I am obsessed with castle environments. It was wonderful to have walls with my designs at Sofiero Castle outside Helsingborg. Otherwise, I think it would be nice to see them in a contrasting environment — big and bare concrete industrial rooms that are in need of some life and imagination. But most of all, of course, in the decadent mansion of East Hampton.

Oh The Tulips