by Marica

VISI recently shared a post on their website that piqued our interest. Printing and photography studio ORMS launched their own boutique range of wallpapers.

For this limited-edition collection, ORMS collaborated with 16 local creatives – South African artists, illustrators and designers – to create a lovely selection of unique and show-stopping wallpaper designs.

One of the motivating factors behind the launch of this exclusive range is that ORMS believe their clients are looking for individual designs with local flavour rather than the generic image spread offered by stock libraries.  “We get a lot of requests for custom-printed wallpaper designs, as our customers are wanting something unique for their homes and businesses,” says Leanne Barling, Head of Décor Printing at ORMS.

The artists involved in the collaboration are Ahimsa Ali, Aimee Hall, Andrea Brand, Andrew Hofmeyr, ARK Paper Studio, Cecile Nowars, Fleur Le Cordeur, Frances White, Gany Beyers, Liffey Joy, Katie Lund, Lisa Strachan, Maria Baumann, Mariette Kotze, Nicole Carr and Si Maclennan.

While all the wallpaper designs are absolutely lovely, the work of one artist, in particular, jumped out at us. It was the playful, quirky and utterly whimsical designs of artist and illustrator Andrew James Hofmeyr.

Rose pointed to the image of his design shared in the VISI article and asked me what it reminded me of. I noticed it immediately of course – curving roads and cute houses – it reminded me of the road map play rugs we used to play karretjies (toy cars) on when I was a child. We were both instantly filled with sweet nostalgia.

Andrew’s maps are much cooler and edgier of course – filled with fantasy and engaging detail.  If you take a closer look you can spy quirky animals, some UFO’s and a ton of whimsy foxes.

The adorable city scenes are painted on a collection of wooden blocks (hence the wood grain background) that slot together to form the overall picture. Each of the painted scapes is inspired by a local town or area – from Kalk Bay to Muizenberg, Barrydale to Heidelberg, and Andrew’s current hometown, Swellendam.

Concerning his work, Andrew mentions the following on his website: “It’s such a gift to be able to create, and having fun and bringing an element of play to my work is something that I take very seriously. When someone sees my work and they break into a smile or a laugh, that is what keeps me going; to resonate on a level of irrepressible joy”.

Well, thanks for the nostalgic trip down memory lane Andrew – Rose and I sure broke into smiles. What is more joyous than something that evokes child-like wonder?

What do you guys and gals think? Love it as much as we do?

Prints of Andrew’s work can be seen and purchased on his website: artbyandrew.co.za

You can also follow him on Facebook & Instagram.

For more information about the wallpaper collaborative collection, visit ormsprintroom.co.za.