DESIGN ADVICE
Textile and wallpaper designer Julia Brendel shares her tips for creating a modern folk scheme that’s brimming with colour and personality
Praised for its beautiful colours and artful craftsmanship, folk style has more than earned its place in interior design heritage. Perfect if you want to add more personality to your home, folk style brings together the decorative crafts of different cultures to create playful, unique and homely spaces. Inspired by the vibrant colours and intricate patterns of folk costumes of her native Polish/Hungarian heritage, interior designer Julia Brendel shares her tips on incorporating these principles into your interior design.
ESSENTIAL FOLK DESIGN COMPONENTS
‘Traditionally, folk design was created by people living close to nature. It is designed to be functional, using predominantly natural materials, with motifs taken from nature and simplified down, often in primary colours. For me, the real must-have components to create the folk look are hand-painted ceramics or stencilled objects, walls or furniture; original folk embroidery and lace, or new fabrics in bright colours with simple folk-style motifs and stripes for balance; wicker baskets and bright colours.’
FIND YOUR STARTING POINT
‘The key to any interior design is to find your starting point – the item or colour around which the whole scheme will orbit. If you already own an original folk piece (perhaps an inherited object or a piece bought on holiday or at an antiques fair), make this your star and build a scheme around it. Or you can create the same effect by stencilling a wall, hand-painting a piece of furniture or choosing a decorated piece of fabric. You can then draw colours from this piece and complement it wit
