Tres Tintas Wallpapers: A Gem in The Crown of Barcelona Design

One thing leads to another. When you are a designer in Barcelona, you usually have your hands in many pots — it’s a free-flowing creative place if there ever was one, and seemingly not dictated by the market. The feeling in the air is of childlike innocence. There are no restrictions and design is a virtue — so it’s not surprising to see Julia Pelletier’s site listing her projects as including everything from costumes for Madame Butterfly to the curation of an illustrated book festival at La Central bookshop in Raval.  I’ve also been getting her email updates for months about craft workshops she puts on for children there.

But what I want to share with you today is her wallpaper and the wall coverings of other fashion designers at a Barcelona company called Tres Tintas .I’ve been interested in the European market for wall coverings for some time.

The first to burst onto the scene were wall decals that were sophisticated and minimalist which I brought back to New York from Paris in 2006 for friends.  But as things go, they multiplied and degraded becoming ubiquitous in Paris and all over Europe.  The statement was so bold that it got relegated to a cheap ‘trendy’ mass market decor solution pretty fast.  Too many candelabras, flitting birds, bold flowers, borders of grass, and trompe l’oeil statues and bookshelves can put you off the style.

But innovative wall treatments as a category have endless possibilities. One of my favorite companies also has one of my favorite websites, Surface View out of the UK where you can see blinds, murals, and wall coverings behind various rooms but they rely on databank’s of images for the website offering and the more niche custom work is done offline.  Also on  Tres Tintas is the work of Catalan designer Mriam Ocariz whose flowers are truly remarkable.

-Chauncey Zalkin

Thursday • July 23, 2009 • by Chauncey Zalkin

Category: Barcelona, Blog, Mriam Ocariz, Sunday Discovery, Surface Design