Very Sanderson: 150 Years of Decoration at the Fashion & Textile Museum - sneek preview

Yesterday I was thrilled to be invited to the press preview of the Very Sanderson: 150 Years of British Decoration retrospective held at the Fashion and Textiles Museum.

Sanderson was founded by Arthur Sanderson in 1860 and for the last 150 years has been at the forefront of English decoration - producing the first coordinated collection of mass-produced wallpapers and fabrics in Britain. As the exhibition began, snaking around the gallery I came across a portrait of the three brothers and then a copy of the Sanderson family tree. I was so amazed that bar one of the Sanderson brothers, the other two and the majority of the family lived into their eighties and nineties.

During its illustrious history the company amassed a huge collection of wallpapers and textiles (many of which you get to see) representing the many changing faces and fads of interior decoration.

The wealth of prints in the exhibition were staggering and were so inspiring that as I was walking around all I wanted to do was race home and get back into print designing. It definitely helped to reinvigorate my passion for interiors, and I can't wait to start making things again such as motifs and patterns for wallpapers.