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Spotlight on the maker:
Julia Clare Interiors
Julia Clare Interiors

Julia Clare Interiors is run by Scottish artist and designer, Julia Clare Sagias. From her studio in Glasgow, Julia creates exquisite wallpaper designs that are mindful of the mood-enhancing effect they bring to a space. We are delighted to feature a range of Julia’s designs in our collection of British-made luxury wallpapers.

We spoke to Julia about her beautiful designs and the inspiration behind them. Read the Q&A below.

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Julia Clare Sagias

Were you always interest in creating from childhood?

Yes, I’ve always created and been artistic. As a child, I was always interested in interior design and adapting my space, even if it was just my bedroom. I remember painting it several times in different schemes to suit my mood. I would paint artwork on my furniture and murals on my wall. I made jewellery, spending every weekend at the art store buying materials. I loved painting and drawing, and listening to music. This led me to focus on art and design at school, and later a degree in art history and a master’s in interior design at The Glasgow School of Art.

Where did your passion for making your designs come from?

From a desire to create beautiful interior spaces and moods which help improve our sense of tranquillity and comfort at home. Design is so important to our overall sense of wellbeing and wallpaper has the ability to envelop an entire space in a mood, concept, colour or texture. It’s an essential artistic element for interior design.

“Design is so important to our overall sense of wellbeing and wallpaper has the ability to envelop an entire space in a mood, concept, colour or texture.” – Julia Clare Sagias

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Moonlight Wallpaper

How did you start your business? 

My creative business started with hand-painted/upcycled furniture and murals and grew into surface design for walls and textiles. I began painting furniture professionally and taking commissions for art and design for interiors after my second daughter was born and I decided to make a career change. I then started designing wallpapers and surface designs and began forming my collections as a natural development.

I won a prestigious scholarship to study at postgraduate level at The Glasgow School of Art and this was when I quit my day job to focus 100% on my creative passion as a career. I achieved an MDes in Interior Design in 2020, graduating with a distinction. Since then, I have been busy with bespoke commissions for art and design ranging from wallpaper and art restoration to gilding. I invested in my new website and wallpaper book and launched my designs. So far sales and demand for my wallpaper and textiles on upholstery and soft furnishings is steadily growing and I have developed a number of new collaborations with stockists, clients and brands.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your designs?

My background and interest in art history is always present and informs me of design styles and developments which helps me adapt and choose shape, colour and influence. I have four collections currently and each collection and design has a distinct concept or influence behind it. Broadly speaking a draw inspiration from nature and architecture.

My Gaia collection, to which Urban Sandstone and Palladium Lustre belong, was developed at art school during a project which focused on the phenomenology of earthy texture and materiality; I wanted to create a design collection that showed the mineral and elemental beauty of the earth as seen in the weathered sandstone of urban architecture. This design is full of rich texture derived from my analysis and photography of the archaeological layers of the city.

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Urban Sandstone Wallpaper

Nordic Stars and Moonlight are part of the very first collection I designed, Etherea. This is a made-up word which I used to try to communicate the uplifting and mesmerising characteristics of this collection which consists of natural and exotic motifs. I wanted to create a gentle and calming feeling through these designs using muted colours of blues and greens and pattern based on my hand-painted artwork.

Geometric and Silver Leaf Mahogany are part of my Beyond Antiquity collection where I was inspired by the architectural and sculptural forms I’ve seen on my travels, from antiquity and beyond. I wanted to reimagine some of these shapes and ideas as a modern design concept and connect this timeless aesthetic with the everyday interior space. Silver Leaf Mahogany is based on my own decorative work as an artist using furniture and precious metal.

What is your favourite part of the making process – is there a specific part you enjoy the most?

Once I have a solid idea in mind, thinking about how I can translate this artistically as a surface design. I love starting to make arrangements of form, colour and texture from my artwork to create a brand new artistic design.

I enjoy every aspect of creative process, I just wish I had more time. Every evening I have this feeling that I’ve ran out of time again. I think once you’ve found a passion and have developed this into your livelihood, it feels like something you can never get enough of or truly complete

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Nordic Stars Wallpaper

Do you have any particular design heroes or other makers your work has been influenced by?

Of course, I look to other contemporary designers and artists for ideas; this is part of the creative process. Instagram makes this incredibly easy (and fleeting), but seeking inspiration is not an instant thing; it is a constantly developing process which requires time and research.

I guess as an art historian as well as an interior designer, I have a tendency to look to the past for inspiration at artists/designers such as Klimt or Charles Rennie Mackintosh. At the moment I love the work of the earliest Modernists and the abstraction of natural motif they used to create new schemes for furniture, architecture, murals. I love Le Corbusier’s Purism and reduction and simplification of shape and I am keen to develop more ideas around this. I am guilty of working in a bubble though sometimes and just focusing on what I want to do, ignoring rends and fashions and following an idea I just want to develop.

Any upcoming projects/ pieces you’re working on that you’d like to tell us about? 

I am designing the interior of a large house renovation in Glasgow and I‘m excited to be involved in all aspects from space design, colour and furniture to wallpaper and textile design from my own collections. What I enjoy most about being both an interior and surface designer is that I can design space around my concepts to create a sort of Total Work of Art or unifying aesthetic, with involvement in every detail. I’m also working on two brand new collections, the first of which will be launched in Summer ’21 and is very different from my existing designs. I usually have multiple projects on the go at one time, which is the way I like it.

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Geometric Wallpaper

Anything else you’d like us to mention?

All my designs can be printed onto any type of wallpaper or textile. I am happy to travel to help with any bespoke projects.

SHOP JULIA’S WALLPAPERS:

Urban Sandstone
Moonlight
Palladium Lustre
Palladium Lustre
Geometric
Nordic Stars
Silver Leaf Mahogany
Silver Leaf Mahogany

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About the Author

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Written by Jane Adams, founder of Author Interiors. LinkedIn:

Read more about her here.

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