Tracy Kendall creates wallpaper that is rich in depth and dimension, ranging from huge single images to stacks of repeated images and now to layers of text and paper in a variety of formats. From piles of books and magazines to umpteen sequins or jigsaw puzzle pieces laid out on a background, Kendall's work does not fail to attract. Tracy Kendall brings new meaning to the term "wallpaper.".





Working with text rather than images to create a graphic is something new for you, and text-based papers figure highly in your latest collection if what we saw at ICFF was anything to go by. While anything with text used as image will catch my eye, choosing words over pictures seems to represent more of a commitment. Do clients express similar hesitation?
Clients have been responding to the text wallpapers very well. Whilst I've recently added more text designs, the very first wallpaper I ever did was the text paper shown at ICFF this year talking about South American politics. I did it for myself at home, for my toilet wall about 14 or 15 years ago. I never showed it and it was only when I had some press features of my home that others saw it and wanted it too.

I design with the text then and now because it has so many layers of meaning. You have the straight forward read, but then by changing the fonts and spacing, it then becomes a design pattern tool. Mixed up, these 2 pathways often give a third, almost unknown, direction to the work, and often it is this unknown path that I want to tread with the work.

I like that each client has their own take when they read the text and with being able to present them in so many different forms, stitched, flocked cut up and straight print - these also add another depth to the words themselves.

And of course, because my work is made to order, I can and do deal with text that clients want to use, so it becomes totally personal to them.





Your choice of words ranges from Shakespeare to Central American politics, and indeed your Stacks papers reflect piles of reading. What inspires you to choose? How do you narrow down your choices?
It is not easy. I remember an early text paper where I used crystals to write with and the manufacturer said I could write anything at all. I'd recently written a reference book, so had done 80,000 plus words for that so thought I should be OK but when you are given the option of writing anything at all, in whatever font, scale and colour with lots of application methods, what do you choose? It took a week to make up my mind.

But now, the Shakespeare is so beautifully written, it crosses so many global and time barriers. In the UK, we still study him at school so everybody grows up with some reference to him. His words are also often laid out as patterns on the page, whilst I often totally ignore this layout, the spacing can be used for pattern making sometimes, which works well with the wallpapers.

The politics are for me and these came as I was deeply interested 30 years ago and the page of the Times so beautifully laid out, it was a pattern.





You began with very stark images of ornate pieces of cutlery, and now your work is quite layered. It is exciting to see such dimensionality in wallcovering, but at what point do you think, "Uh-oh, this is getting a bit excessive"? Do you ever feel the need to rein yourself in?
All the time. I try to make sure that what I'm working on is one simple idea, carried through to its own conclusion - that could be a large one print in one colour, or just 1,000's of sequins or jigsaw pieces applied to the paper, nothing else. The reining in comes before, in the design stage, but I like the papers to have their own way about them as it were. I do want to try a really excessive layered design. I really like Innermost's lamp design that has everything but the kitchen sink on it and would love to create a wallpaper in the same line. My hanger will not thank me for doing it!!