I had a profound realisation recently that I felt would be worth sharing. The seed was planted during a conversation with my mother about a stage play I had written whilst studying for my MA, titled The Last Performance of Djordgi Nevalis. She asked me whether the white-faced clown character had been inspired by my childhood wallpaper. At first I did not know what she meant as the wallpaper I remember from my childhood was a woodland border with fairies and forest animals, but she proceeded to describe to me a scene with a white faced clown in black and white that I had inherited when we moved into the home in which I lived from the age of 3-6.
I had no recollection of this, but after a little research I came across this Pierrot Clown design from the 80's that had been available on fabric, wallpaper and bedding.
It was of course instantly familiar, despite not having any specific reference in my own memory, but what I could not believe was just how much from this design I had incorporated into my adult life. The character had of course appeared in the aforementioned play, but also the cherry blossom I had worked into the design for my first tattoo and even today the grasses and blown dandelions are a common feature in my absent minded doodles. This got me thinking.
We know that children are constantly absorbing information from the environment around them and wherever your opinion falls on the nature/nurture debate, we accept that the forming of a personality is something that is ongoing throughout childhood until we reach maturity. Understanding that a bedroom wallpaper had such a strong influence on me during those informative years that it has essentially been assimilated as a part of who I am, put a whole new perspective on decorating kids rooms for me.
There are so many beautiful and inspiring children's collections available today. I have always thought that a characterful decor can be a great inspiration tool for us as adults when it comes to bedtime story telling, but today I believe that it is much more than that. A child that is weaving their own world from their surroundings, has their environment as muse for their soul.
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