The story behind Birds at Play

Some designs arrive fully formed. Others grow slowly, the way a garden does, through patience, conversation, and a lot of happy accidents. Birds at Play was very much the latter. Inspired by an early 18th-century print by Claude Gillot, held in the British Museum, Birds at Play draws on the artwork’s ornamental foliage, delicate line work, and drifting birds.

We first connected with Leah Lane of From My Mulberry House over a shared love of the natural world and the way it finds its way into a home. Leah has a gift for storytelling and capturing country life and from our very first conversation, we knew this collaboration was going to be something special. 

What started as a simple idea, birds, branches, the feeling of a garden alive with energy gradually evolved into one of our most joyful and whimsical designs to date.

Here's a short video of Leah taking us through the design process. From our trip to The British Museum to view the artwork in person, through to our refining the design over multiple iterations. 

As you'll see in the film above, Birds at Play didn't happen overnight. It began with close observation, the way a hummingbird hovers for just a moment before it's gone, the gentle curl of a botanical stem, the particular quiet of a garden in the early morning. Layer by layer, those moments were translated into something you can live with every day. The result has that rare quality of feeling both freshly made and somehow always there, as though it belonged on the wall long before it arrived.

The ground is a soft, worn blush, almost like old plaster or a sun-faded fresco, which gives the whole design a timeless, antique quality. Against it, delicate birds dart and hover in every direction, rendered in the most gentle watercolour tones: dusty pinks, sage greens, soft teals. Botanical scrollwork winds through the repeat, anchoring the birds without ever caging them. It feels like a garden wall that has been slowly coming to life for centuries.

The palette is rooted in the natural world: earthy, honest, and warm. The birds themselves are full of character, caught mid-movement as though you've just looked up and spotted them in your own garden.

Birds at Play has a gentle magic to it that makes it surprisingly versatile. It's a natural choice for a nursery or child's bedroom, that sense of movement and wonder is exactly what little imaginations respond to. But it's just as much at home in a relaxed dining room, a garden room flooded with light, or a grown-up bedroom that feels like a quiet retreat. Wherever you put it, it brings the outside in, without ever trying too hard.

We'd love to see how you use it in your projects. You can order samples here.