Wallpaper has an alchemical ability to transform any room into an enchanting, immersive environment—especially when it’s a panoramic design of the kind currently enjoying a resurgence in popularity. French wallpaper firm Isidore Leroy, known for its murals, is enjoying a revival of its own, drawing on its rich history of marrying innovative technology with remarkable artistry. Through their state-of-the-art digital printing expertise, the team is able to create luminous custom wallcoverings at accessible price points.
Jean-Etienne Bélicard, president of Isidore Leroy, and Claire Staszak of Centered by Design discuss her Mediterranean Reverie collection, which includes Stripe Coquillage, seen on the wall.
COURTESY OF ISIDORE LEROY
Marbré de Venise (on the ceiling) from Mediterranean Reverie is inspired by hand-marbled Venetian papers.
COURTESY OF ISIDORE LEROYIsidore Leroy opened his eponymous French atelier in 1842, patenting an innovative continuous printing process. His firm became known for quintessentially French designs that reflected the artistic movements of the day, such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco, and continued to break new ground for more than a century. The brand’s doors were shuttered in the 1980s, but such a heritage firm was destined for a comeback, and in 2019, French entrepreneur Jean-Etienne Bélicard relaunched the firm and is now guiding its evolution as president.
Francesco Battista, an Italian painter living in France, collaborated with Isidore Leroy on Sur la Route de Samarcande, inspired by a city in Uzbekistan that was once a stop on the legendary Silk Road.
COURTESY OF ISIDORE LEROY“We kept the DNA of the company and the focus on cutting-edge processes, but in addition to reimagining the company’s archives, we collaborate with artists on more contemporary designs,” says Bélicard of creating wallpapers that walk a line between history and modernity and refinement and eclecticism. “Our designs bring an originality that’s analogous to hand-painted murals but made more quickly and less expensively through high-quality digital printing.” As with high-end murals, the designs can be customized to fit the exact proportions of a room, and the colors and motifs adjusted to suit each space—for example, placing a particular motif over a doorway or flanking a window or fireplace.
For Éternelles, artist Olivia de Bona made a large linocut which served as the pattern for a landscape wallpaper exploring the idea of a lost golden age.
COURTESY OF ISIDORE LEROYPartnering with a diverse pool of artists is an essential part of the firm’s reinvention. “I think it is important to not always look in the mirror but to have a lens on what’s to come,” says Bélicard. “Artists help us imagine what the future of contemporary landscapes will look like.” In its new iteration, Isidore Leroy has partnered with French street artist Olivia de Bona and decorative painters Blundell & Therrien, among many others.
Pétrichor by Blundell & Therrien is a twist on classic landscape design. With no discernible horizon line, its brushstrokes become almost abstract pattern when viewed up close.
COURTESY OF ISIDORE LEROYStateside, their expertise with panoramic designs was on full display at the Lake Forest Showhouse on Chicago’s North Shore in 2023, where a mural transformed a men’s dressing room by decorator Claire Staszak, principal of Centered by Design. “I wanted a scenic paper that was more unexpected and was immediately drawn to Isidore Leroy’s moody Toits de Paris nighttime panorama,” says the decorator. Thanks to the brand’s strong artist relationships, she was able to customize the mural to perfectly fit the space: “At my request, the Eiffel Tower was added to Yukiko Noritake’s original artwork, allowing me to manipulate the scenes to avoid repetition. We just provided the dimensions and it was scaled appropriately,” she explains. “The whole process was enjoyable and seamless.”
To add romance and a touch of mystery to her men’s dressing room for the Lake Forest Showhouse, Chicago designer Claire Staszak wrapped the room in Toits de Paris.
AIMÉE MAZZENGA
Staszak requested a customized version of the wallpaper mural by artist Yukiko Noritake, who added the Eiffel Tower to the landscape at her behest.
AIMÉE MAZZENGAThe partnership with Staszak proved fruitful, blossoming into a collection she herself designed with Isidore Leroy, Mediterranean Reverie, which will make its international debut this January at Paris Déco Off after a soft launch at the Chicago Design Center. “I was inspired by my fantasy of the Mediterranean with bowers of roses climbing up trellises, overgrown secret gardens, crumbling chateaus, and untamed nature,” says Staszak, whose collaboration is the brand’s first with an American designer. The spirited collection features an array of treillage, shell motifs, stripes, faux boiserie, and marbleized papers. “Mediterranean Reverie is a manifestation of Claire’s appreciation for European design, historical architecture, and the fragile beauty that it exudes,” notes Bélicard.
Claire Staszak’s studies for her Paradis Perdu mural reference forgotten gardens and lush landscapes in the south of France.
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Artist Denis Berteau at Isidore Leroy hand-paints the mural’s artwork.
Ava du Parc
The final sketch by artist Denis Berteau from Claire Staszak’s design for Paradis Perdu.
COURTESY OF ISIDORE LEROY
The finished mural, custom-sized for the room.
COURTESY OF ISIDORE LEROYIsidore Leroy is not one to rest on its laurels, always seeking new collaborators and innovative extensions of its wallpaper business. Next up, they’re launching a partnership with Gien, the 200-year-old French tabletop manufacturer, translating some of their most popular china patterns into wallpaper designs, also debuting at Déco Off. The firm has developed pleated lampshades and folding screens using their papers (prototypes are available in their atelier), and is exploring the use of its cutting scraps for picture frames and accessories—all expected to launch later this year. A line of complementary fabrics is also in development. “It’s exciting to look for new outlets to be creative and new technologies to fulfill them,” says Bélicard. Isidore Leroy himself would most certainly approve.
Vues d’Orient is based on the bestselling china pattern by French faience maker Gien from an upcoming collaboration with Isidore Leroy. It will debut at Paris Déco Off in January.
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