Founded by Arthur Sanderson in 1860, Sanderson is an internationally renowned brand in the field of interior design and decorating. Its quintessentially English fabrics and wallpapers, bed linen, paint, and tableware collections offer classic, inspirational product, design innovation, exceptional quality, and value for money.
Having been granted a royal warrant in 1923, Sanderson still supplies fabrics, paint, and wall coverings to HM Queen Elizabeth II and British royal palaces. Sanderson’s core products are co-ordinating fabric and wallpaper collections, often based on documents from its extensive archive.
Design philosophy
Well known for its traditional, English inspired, design, Sanderson is also innovative in its use of colour and production techniques. The company draws on the creativity of young contemporary designers, alongside the work of artists and historical documents. This mix creates new and directional designs for modern living.
The archive
The Sanderson design archive houses one of the largest collections of fabrics, wallpaper, and printing blocks in the world with samples dating back to the Renaissance. This resource is a constant inspiration to the design studio, which is always looking at new ways of re-interpreting these design classics to suit modern tastes.
In 2010 Sanderson celebrates its 150th anniversary. To mark this significant occasion, the Sanderson studio introduced vintage fabrics and wallpapers, a revival of its most vibrant and varied prints, embroideries, and wallpapers to date. Over the last 15 decades this company has been at the forefront of every significant movement in European decorative arts.
The designs included in the vintage collection date from the late 19th century through to the 1980s and each reflects the style of the era in which it was first launched. Over the years, Sanderson has kept record samples of every design produced or marketed by the company since it was formed by Arthur Sanderson in 1860. Today the Sanderson archive is one of the most important collections of historic textiles and wallpapers in the world. To encapsulate such a wide time span within a relatively small range of designs proved a challenging task for the Sanderson studio. After much deliberation, nine printed fabrics, two embroideries, and nine wallpapers were settled on, offering a glimpse of the treasures in Sanderson’s unprecedented archive. The final collection includes styles from the arts and crafts movement, jazzy modernes, fifties festival designs, and pop patterns. Sanderson has combined the new with the old and employed contemporary printing techniques to enhance each design, bringing a richness and originality to these historical textiles. The resulting collection showcases the creativity and diversity of a remarkable design company over the past 150 years.
