Sanderson is one of the names customers ask us about most often. This guide gives you a short history of the British design house, then some practical advice on choosing Sanderson wallpaper, fabric and rugs, using designs we stock as examples.
A short history of Sanderson
Sanderson was founded in 1860, and its reputation rests on hand-drawn designs inspired by English garden scenes. What makes the brand so interesting today is how much of that heritage is still in use. Many current designs begin in the Sanderson archive and are redrawn and recoloured for modern homes.
A few examples show how deep that archive goes. Abbeville fabric is based on a late 19th-century block-printed document, with a Tree of Life full of coffee beans, pomegranates and exotic pheasants. Aesops Fables comes from a 19th-century design found in Mulhouse, France. Amanpuri was originally a Sanderson Eton Rural textile, bought from the Haward studio in the mid-1920s and first produced in 1924–25.
The archive also feeds the brand's collaborations. Amanpuri now appears in the Sanderson x Salvesen Graham edit as Amanpuri Mulberry/Olive fabric, a stylised trail of leaves and flowers with a Jacobean feel, taken from the original document. Highgrove by Sanderson, meanwhile, was developed in partnership with the King's Foundation.
How to choose Sanderson wallpaper
Start with the mood you want rather than the pattern. A busy, high-contrast design wakes a room up; a soft, painterly one calms it down. Then think about where the paper will go and how much of it you will see at once.
- For a calm bedroom or hallway: Chiswick Grove wallpaper trails the branches of an abundant tree filled with singing birds, in a painterly style and muted, fresh colourways. It is printed on a wide-width non-woven.
- For a storytelling scheme: Aesops Fables wallpaper is an abundant toile of well-loved scenes from the fables, gravure printed on non-woven, in Pink or Blue. It suits a bedroom, dining room or hallway.
- For a gentle botanical: Alice's Fern wallpaper arranges multidirectional ferns, inspired by the grounds at Highgrove, into a soft stripe with an ombre effect.
- For a quieter, more graphic look: Fan Palm uses fine line work for a subtle textural effect, with metallic inks on its Charcoal/Gold, Linen/Gilver and Rhodera/Gilver colourways.
Whatever you choose, look at the pattern on the wall itself, in both daylight and lamplight, before committing. Colours can shift a surprising amount between a north-facing room and a sunny one.
How to choose Sanderson fabric
With fabric, decide how hard it needs to work before you fall for a design. The Martindale figure tells you how well a fabric stands up to rubbing: the higher the number, the harder wearing it is, which matters most on a sofa or a dining chair.
- Upholstery: Amberley Stripe fabric is an archival stripes-within-stripes design in linen, rated at 25,000 Martindale, with a relaxed, classic country look. Akan, a small-scale ikat inspired by Ghanaian Kente weaving, is also 25,000 Martindale.
- Accent chairs and curtains: Amelia Rose is a vintage-feel distressed floral on a linen-mix base at 20,000 Martindale, in Crimson/Gold, Wedgwood/Rose and Vanilla/Taupe.
- Sheers and blinds: Adrift fabric has a soft, muslin-like feel and a triangular relief, and at 300cm wide it is made for full-length sheer curtains that filter the light.
- Lighter use: the Aesops Fables fabric is printed on 100% linen and works for curtains, blinds, cushions and light upholstery.
Pairing wallpaper, fabric and rugs
One of the easiest ways to build a confident scheme is to use the same design twice. Aesops Fables comes as both wallpaper and fabric, so you can run the toile across the walls and repeat it at the window for a fully dressed room. Alice's Fern works in a similar way: as a fabric it becomes an ombre stripe that combines a block-print mark with embroidery.
If you would rather mix, keep one pattern dominant and let the others support it. A busy floral on the walls sits happily with a stripe or a small-scale weave on the furniture, especially if they share a colour.
Rugs can tie it all together. The Amanpuri Stone rug takes inspiration from a 1920s-style Jacobean embroidery design in a warm sand and blue palette, so it pairs naturally with Amanpuri fabric. For something less traditional, the Abstract rug is hand tufted in 100% wool, with splashes of colour in a neutral palette.
Find your Sanderson design
Browse the full Sanderson collection to see every wallpaper, fabric and rug we carry. If you would like a second opinion on pattern scale or colour, visit us at the shop in Somerset or get in touch with the team for advice.
