How Calico Wallpaper Has Transformed Home Decor Into High Art
As they mark 10 years, Nick and Rachel Cope are continually pushing creative boundaries with new collaborations and techniques.
Rachel and Nick Cope — she an artist and art therapist, he a builder and former contractor who has hung his share of wallpaper — are intimately acquainted with the restorative potential, on rooms and moods, of well-designed wallpaper.
Their New York-based wallpaper company Calico Wallpaper — which they birthed 10 years ago in the eerie days after Hurricane Sandy barreled through New York City, flooding streets and knocking out power — specializes in bespoke non-repeating murals, rather than the rote stripe and scrolling of yore. Their collections transform home decor into high art and interiors into immersive art installations in ways that are far more encompassing than simply hanging a canvas on a wall or putting a sculpture on a shelf.
“Creating an immersive space, transforming someone’s home to change how they feel, playing with color — it bridges all of these fields of interest that I always had,” says Rachel, 42.
With an almost obsessive attention to detail and quality, Calico Wallpaper has become a staple at design fairs, show houses, five-star hotels and monied residences worldwide. Its work has been featured at Milan‘s famed Roassana Orlandi Gallery, London Design Festival and Salone del Mobile. Last spring as part of Milan Design Week, Calico’s collection was featured in the Boccie Apartment, Canadian designer Omer Arbel’s new permanent space in the chic Zona Magenta neighborhood.
It has amassed a slew of celebrity fans (Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, Oscar-winning filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka) and a growing body of work that includes notable collaborations with designers and artists including Faye Toogood, Cody Hoyt, Matthew Day Jackson, Daniel Arsham and Chris Wolston.
As it marks 10 years, Calico is fittingly rereleasing its three of their first collections — Wabi, Lunaris and Night — each in two new colorways.
The Wabi collection encapsulates its origin story. Rachel, a sculptor and painter who studied art therapy at the School of Visual Arts, had always wanted to collaborate with her husband on a project.
Calico has more than 50 collections, so far, most coming in six to eight colorways. Tapestry, its newest collection, was inspired by the mosaics of Gaudi. They are printed at three mills — in California, North Carolina and Connecticut — and all made-to-order, so there is no waste.
On Dec. 12, it will introduce a new streamlined ordering system that allows customers to order panels for their spaces directly, without needing to submit specs or approve layouts. The Murals by Panel have an average quick-ship turnaround of four weeks, compared to eight to ten weeks for Calico’s custom layout process.
