Design Chic with Chinoiserie | History of the Design
Today I want to talk to you about the history of Chinoiserie design. Did you know that Chinoiserie is a French word?
History of the Design
"Chinois" means Chinese. The whole design trend of Chinoiserie came from the Westerner's who were fascinated by how people lived in India and in Asia in the 17th century.
When products came to Europe and America through the British East India Trading Company. Products like tea, panels and screens and porcelain. The panels would be either wood or glass and they would have these designs on them.
Screens made out of many panels were very important to use in their homes. They used them around fireplaces to keep the heat in or use them to separate a large room into another space. They were very popular.
These screens started to show up in several paintings of women lounging, drinking tea in front of the decorated screens.
Motifs in Chinoiserie
A lot of the motifs in a Chinoiserie pattern would include landscapes, birds, trees and flowers. As porcelain was starting to gain popularity for tea sets, they started to put the tea rose in the Chinoiserie patterns. In my Chinoiserie mural, I have encorporated a tea rose into the mural as well.
The more popular tea became, when the tea came across with the traders, they placed it in these ceramic tins. There were paintings on them, and inside each container had tins with black tea, green tea, and sugar.
As the popularity of tea spread to France. French became a major design influence in Chinoiserie. One of the first designed interiors was a room at the Palais de Versailles.
Chinoiserie Design Tips
This pattern is a classic and it goes with any type of furniture. Chinoiserie looks great with modern, traditional, or even farmhouse chic or boho style.
It is like the outside has come in. This is a very open pattern with the birds, and some lemons to make it fun! Don't forget the tea roses too.
Our Chinoiserie mural looks great in a hallway, a dining room, or even a feature wall in a bedroom. You can pull out any of the colors in it to decorate around it
The Chinoiserie Blossom Mural is from the Anthology Resource Collection and is available in green, blue, and silver grasscloth.
The lemons from this mural have also inspired my Lemon Tote Bag and Wristlet, now available on Etsy
More more design ideas and inspiration, please follow us on Instagram and Pinterest!
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