Publicity About Anya Larkin Hand-Made Wallpapers..

1. All That Shimmers

2. Wallpaper Notes

3. Off the Wall

4. Paper Trails

5. Up Against the Wall

6. Anya Larkin Hand Painted Wallpapers

When Anya Larkin started her wallpaper company in 1983, virtually everyone in the industry was producing patters on vinyl. But Larkin, trained in fine art and fashion, was looking for a material that would not only hold her designs, but become part of them. She hunted down Japanese rice paper in an art supply store and commissioned a mill to produce it for her by the roll. “The only way to create something beautiful,” she says, “is to start out with something beautiful.”

After Larkin conceives of one of her geometric or nature-inspired designs, artists translate it into silkscreen, stencil, or woodblock. Then artisans use these templates and apply as many as ten custom-mixed colors—water-soluble paints, metallic powders, and gold or silver leaf.

The process is lengthy and involved—but the importance of every step is borne out by the finished products. Thanks to the draftsman’s precision, Anya Larkin’s “shagreen” pattern looks like real sharkskin. The ten coats of paint that go into the Equinox pattern ensure that it resembles patinated tilework. And because the metallic powders are hand-blended and the silver leaf painstakingly applied, they seem to create light, rather than simply reflecting it.

Despite their custom-work price tag, Larkin’s papers have sold well, and she is creating a line of Miami-bright papers and a collection of vividly hued rugs. Her other current project? Finally getting Anya Larkin paper up on her own walls.

Anya Larkin designs and guilds wallpaper borders that wrap any room in sheer luxury. With a seven-year background in painted fabrics and wallpapers, the New York artist was eager to explore a new technique when a client asked her for a hand-designed border. For her first collection of gilt borders, appropriately entitled Gilded ag, Larkin has brushed, rubbed, and burnished leaves of silver, 22-kt gold, and copper into bold circles and squares, flashy diamonds, and jazzy checkers. With their glimmering detailing, these timeless, geometric motifs dazzle the eye.’’ The designs of the borders are classical and yet very contemporary’’ says Larkin. ‘’And the gilt really jumps right off the wall at you—it’s a spectacular effect.’’

Anya Larkin's hand-made wallpapers are vailable in

• New York at Luten Cleary Stern (212) 838-6420:
• Chicago at Holly Hunt (312) 661-1900: and in
• Los Angeles at Randolph & Hein (213) 855-1222.
• For other showroom & store Locations click here,
  or call (212) 532-3263.

Anya Larkin is a patient woman. For her first handmade wall paper collection, she spent a year and a half looking for somebody who could make the oversized rice-paper rolls that give her design their rich textures. Now, almost 20 years later, the same perfectionism has fueled the development of her luxurious new line of Tibetan carpets. ”It took me three years to find a good workshop. ” The former fashion-textile designer recalls. “I was horrified by the stuff out there.”

Both collections were worth the wait. Larkin’s gilded and hand-blocked papers now grace the walls of such high-profile interiors as London’s Mirabelle restaurant, houses decorated by John F. Saladino, and the QE2. Her Boudhala carpets are sure to meet a similarly enthusiastic response. As with her wallcoverings, “color carries the design of the rugs,” says Larkin. “They are like color-field paintings - they can be used anywhere.” The carpets, with 80 knots per square inch, are made entirely by hand in Nepal. And, unlike other manufacturers in an industry rife with child labor, Larkin works with a company that employs no children and pays parents who keep their kids in school a bonus equal to the wages a child would earn. (In addition, the firm provides funds towards the child’s education.)

Floor coverings are only another step in Larkin’s plan. A line of ceramic lamps, with shades made from her custom papers, is expected to debut this fall. A second, lower- priced line of wallpapers is also in the works. But Larkin’s latest challenge lies closer to home. “When I started out, it was too much to have my papers hanging in my house after working with them all day,” She explains. “Now, with the rugs, lamps, and everything else, I am ready to decorate. The only problem is that it’s hard to choose from it all.”

Anya Larkin’s burnished metallic wallpapers and borders are like jewelry for the walls, giving a touch of glint to a room without overpowering it. That may be because the designer uses rice paper rather than the typical vinyl as the base to which she applies 22-karat gold, silver, or copper, ‘’ Color is my starting point’’ she says’’then I add updated classical motifs.’’ Her collection, distinctive for the its soft palette and strong geometrics, has long been appreciated by decorators and architects, many of whom she collaborates with on new designs

Larkin, who began her career 13 years ago, hand painting fabrics for couturiere Mary McFadden, redirected her focus to wall treatments when a friend lamented that she could find only garish papers. Today the designer employs 25 artisans in her Manhattan atelier, where everything is done by hand. First, the paper’s matte surface is overlaid with water-base paint to give it a patina, then it’s hand-leafed or dusted with metallic powder. She and her team also use block printing, silk screening, ragging, and antiquing for different effects. Her creativity doesn’t end there: Larkin is also developing a collection of handwoven rugs and a line of lighting.

Bold yet subtle, Larkin’s wallpaper has found it’s place at the chic Tribeca eatery Nobu, at Donald Trump’s glitzy Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, and in homes across the country. Her designs, like the perfect strand of pearls, bring glamour to any setting.

Like many of the best talents in the world of home decoration, Anya Larkin began her career in fashion, applying her training as a fine artist to the creation of painted silk fabrics for couturiers like Mary McFadden. But in 1983 she became interested in wallpaper, and soon she was using her aesthetic and technical know-how to design and manufacture handmade wall coverings. In her “couture” line, Larkin specifies a characterful Japanese rice paper as the base on which to present her designs. Hand techniques used to create the richly impastoed background characteristic of her wallpapers include brushing, sponging, stippling, screen printing, and rag rolling. Her signature precious-metal patterns are then applied by hand, lending the finished product the shimmering aura of an evening gown.

Since 1983,  Anya Larkin has dazzled the Interior Design Industry, conceptualizing, designing and manufacturing hand painted wallpaper.

Recognizing the need for an artisanal quality product, Anya launched her company by creating hand manufactured contemporary designs using ancient techniques such as block printing, gold leafing, silk screening and hand painting and produced a line of hand painted wallpaper which revolutionized the industry.

Her collection quickly became an immediate success.

Anya Larkin has continued to reinvent hand painted wallpaper by designing large scale traditional damasks brought forward to a contemporary level, geometric shapes superimposed on gold leafed backgrounds, metallic powder burnished into the surface of hand painted paper, patterns contrasting against each other by the juxtaposition of matte and shiny painted colors where the glimmer of hand painted gold leaf papers is subdued by the use of antique glazes, overwashes and lacquers of transparent pearlescent and metallic glazes that glitter and shimmer when catching the light in a room.

Each creation is a signature design exemplifying Anya Larkin’s extraordinary inventions.