Artist Michelle Poonawalla has collaborated with Inkiostro Bianco to design a series of wallpapers for their Goldenwall collection. Goldenwall, acts as the utmost luxury collection for the Italian design house and for 2020 they have collaborated with nine international artists and designers. Goldenwall celebrates Inkiostro Bianco’s techniques allowing them to print on gold leaf and pink gold, the resulting wallpapers highlight metal-effect base materials often mixed with the sparkle of precious metals.

Michelle Poonawalla’s two designs, The Flutter and Misty Flutter , take the silhouette of a butterfly, incorporating Poonawalla’s motif which has been present in her work since the inaugural exhibition What If You Fly?. However, the scale of the wallpapers has allowed Poonawalla to take elements of inspiration from her more recent explorations into digital video mapping, for example her seminal installation Introspection; which has been displayed at the Saatchi Gallery, London; Alserkal Avenue, Dubai; and as a collateral project at the Kochi Biennale, India. The end result is both a wallpaper and a work of art that creates an intense immersive experience, which hopes to push the viewer into a contemplative space of calm and meditation.

Talking about the project Poonawalla noted “it is great to be able to design on such a large scale, going beyond what I could ever do with a traditional canvas. Whilst I have incorporated elements of my style I have also tried to preserve the distinctive character of the brand particularly in the choice of colour pallet”. Alongside Poonawalla, Inkiostro Bianco worked with eight other designers including Italian design agency Studio Zero; Giorgia Ricci, an Italian artist and illustrator; and Pisati Marco, a designer and architect from Florence.

Talking about the collaboration Manuel Mollicone – creative director of Inkiostro Bianco – says “The cooperations with designers represent a cultural and creative enrichment for Inkiostro Bianco. We hope we have done justice to Michelle’s designs, the final wallpapers are the result of intense four-handed work: a very delicate process that requires at the same time great respect for the styles and proposals developed and attention not to distort their artistic origins”.