Wallpaper company Divine Savages are known for their exquisitely crafted luxury wallpaper. Started in 2017 by husbands Jamie & Tom, we spoke to them about their design process, where they pull their inspiration from, and the best ways to incorporate wallpaper in your bathroom.

Tell us the origins of Divine Savages – how did you know you wanted to start the brand? What was your motivation?  

Divine Savages specialises in creating exquisitely crafted wallpapers, fabrics, accessories and limited edition art prints for the brave and the bold.  It was founded by husbands Jamie Watkins and Tom Kennedy in 2017.

Of the early days, Tom recalls, “we had just bought our first house, a two-storey apartment in a Victorian terrace in South London, in much need of redecoration.  We wanted to respect the design styles of the arts & crafts movement of that era but found those traditional prints weren’t quite quirky enough.  I’m an avid collector of curiosities and all things kitsch and wanted to inject some of this passion and personality into our home decor.”

Tom began drafting wallpaper designs of his own and came up with a Great Gatsby inspired pattern, incorporating both his and Jamie’s love of cocktails. This design, one of their longstanding best sellers now known as Deco Martini, became the first wallpaper put into production and Divine Savages was born!

Can you tell us a bit about the process of making the wallpaper?  

Here at Divine Savages, we take inspiration from history, culture, fashion, and the natural world to create an eclectic mix of influences. We are known for our bold and adventurous design, playful pattern and personality-driven prints with our signature divine and savage twist. We are proud to create British made wallpapers focusing on small-batch production to create beautiful wallcoverings for your home. We use a mix of digital and traditional printing techniques for our wallpaper, embracing both modern and time-honoured techniques including intricately engraved rollers and hand-mixed paints that celebrate heritage manufacturing.

Where do you see Divine Savages in 5 years?

Later this year we’re launching our brand new wallpaper and fabrics collection at Decorex in October; it’ll be our second year of exhibiting at this key interiors show and we can’t wait to build on last year’s success – expect some special collaborations!

This year also sees a very exciting new chapter for Divine Savages! Having recently moved to Somerset, we are opening our very first showroom in the beautiful Georgian city of Bath. We cannot wait to have a physical space to welcome our clients to explore our passion for pattern, helping them to create wonder walls with our trademark witty wallpapers. We have so many fun plans for the space and can’t wait to see how it helps our brand evolve over the coming years.

What are your top 3 tips for choosing a wallpaper?

Wallpaper has the magical ability to transform any space, with a superpower far greater than that of humble paint. With wallpaper enjoying a renaissance, you can bring bold colour and pattern into your home without the risk of splashing carpets and furniture with splotches of paint, or having to deal with all that dreaded prep work and cutting in. Put that paintbrush down, here are our top three tips for choosing a wallpaper:

• Firstly, think about how the room is going to be used, how do you want it to feel? Do you want a strong vibrant pattern or something calmer and softer?
• What walls are you going to wallpaper? Consider wrapping the entire room in wallpaper for a bold and adventurous look or highlight architectural features like a chimney breast or dining/kitchen nook with just one or two walls.
• Think about pattern, texture and different finishes. There are so many options from gold leaf, and metallic to grasscloth and suede – all helping to bring a different feel to your room. Scale is also worth noting – do you want a large-scale mural-like print, a something more dainty?

We always advise getting your hands on a number of different wallpaper samples and putting them up on your walls for a few days so you can see how the colours and pattern work in different lights and at different times of the day. Ultimately though, just choose a wallpaper that you love and you really can’t go wrong!

You can find all our beautiful wallpaper samples online at divinesavages.com with free UK shipping, and if you need any design advice you can always get in touch – we’d be very happy to help!

You can visit Divine Savages here to explore their wallpaper collection.