Brittany Ellis believes great patterns deserve to shine – especially great patterns by small, independent designers. Ellis, an interior designer who fell hard for textiles and wallpaper, created The Pattern Collective to give those indie brands a showcase.
“While working in interior design, I started coming across these small textile companies,” recalled Ellis. “There were people printing from their homes, doing small batch things… totally off the wall and like nothing you would see in a typical design center… I thought, ‘There needs to be a place where these small brands can come together and be highlighted and not hidden or shelved behind larger corporate brands.”
Ellis is a die-hard believer in the power of pattern (more than paint) to transform a space. She finds New Orleans homes, with their high ceilings and intricate architectural details, especially well-suited to wallpaper: They just scream, “Put a layer of fun on me!” She’s also a fan of adding lively patterns in utilitarian spaces like laundry rooms and powder rooms.
For her studio, Ellis doesn’t select patterns based on trends or carry many traditional patterns, even though those styles tend to be popular in the South. “I kind of like to push the envelope a little with design” she said. “What I’m trying to show with my studio space and the patterns that I carry is that you can be bold, add color, and do fun things in your space that have personality and reflect you, and it doesn’t have to be grey or white or just kind of stodgy and simplistic… It can be a little more fun and still be sophisticated.”
Ellis does offer clients some particular advice. When visiting her studio, they should bring anything they want to match, like pillows, paint color, or tile: “Gather your supplies so you can sit and look at what works best with what you have.” Second, she urges them to find an experienced, vetted, professional wallpaper installer: “Wallpaper and fabric are a huge investment… You want to make sure it’s installed in a way that will make it last for years to come.”
The Pattern Collective, thepatterncollective.com, Instagram: @thepatterncollective
