Colony, an Italian company hailing from the grand old city of Rome, is perhaps best known in Australia for its elaborately beautiful wallpapers and fabrics. It’s easy to fall in love with the precious and imaginative qualities of these tactile and colourful interior furnishings.

The family-owned company, which has been around since 1976, is led by general manager and creative director Gabriele Roscioli. Roscioli was recently in Australia, visiting major design centres with the brand’s Australian supply partner, Boyac. It was an auspicious visit as it also marked the 35th anniversary of Boyac (a huge achievement for the business and celebrated with a series of intimate dinner events around Australia).

With an emphasis on refinement and elegance, Colony’s fabrics and more recently its wallpapers (which it began producing in 2014) are like artworks for the home, their intricate and vibrantly coloured patterns inspired by French, Venetian and Piedmontese interior styles. Colony’s newest Wallpaper Collection Vol. III carries references to Italian palazzos, Art Deco and oriental styles.

While many of its products continue to be produced in Italy, Colony’s collections have global appeal, with the company exporting much of its fabrics and wallpapers to international markets. Roscioli attributes it to the fine quality of the product, the traditional styles which at once feel modern and fresh, and the distinctive use of colour in the designs. “We are not shy minimalists,” he says. “At the same time, we’re not ‘bling’. We are sophisticated, but… kind of understated.”

Colony’s new Wallpaper Collection Vol. III features 10 vibrant designs including the classically inspired Ecussons whichfeatures a neat, symmetrical floral pattern reminiscent of late 18th-century French textiles.

Melograno, meanwhile, is inspired by the decorative styles of Mughal India, already reinterpreted by European weavers in the 18th century. (Pomegranate, representing prosperity and wellness was a common motif in ancient Rome and then in the Byzantine empire, as well as central Asian culture.) In absolute contrast again, Xi’an is inspired by the atmosphere of China and its millennia-old culture.

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“We are very proud to be able to add a new series of designs to our wallpaper catalogue,” says Roscioli. “The way we approach the subject of wall coverings stems from a great attention to texture and materials, as all our papers are derived from our pre-existing fabrics and velvets. So it is essential for us to reproduce the same movement and aesthetics that we find in the textiles patterns.”

The Wallpaper Collection in particular employs printing techniques both traditional and modern, printing on different surfaces that range from paper/non-woven to vinyl and grasscloth. The result is a range of tactile effects which are inherent to the original patterns, but also very applicable in present day terms.

“We try to make things that are … timeless,” says Roscioli. “It’s our colour [selections] and everything in terms of pattern that are our exclusive to our designs, and that we create from scratch.”

If these designs haven’t already left an impression, then it’s worth jumping on Colony’s Instagram to check out their high profiles projects such as the White House Oval Office, Sofia Coppola’s famous film Marie Antoniette, and the Netflix series Inventing Anna.

Colony is available exclusively in Australia through Boyac. Boyac is home to many of the world’s most sought-after fabric houses. It’s stable of brands span textiles, wallpaper and lighting for residential and contract markets, as well as select accessories for interior decoration. Its strong commitment to craftsmanship, quality and diversity sees it partner with the likes of Colony, based on like-minded values, ensuring its collections meet the demands of a broad interior design, architecture and decoration industry.

Boyac
boyac.com.au

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