Graffiti themed interiors

Many people may not think that graffiti constitutes art and I’m not going to get into that debate here. I personally am a big fan of graffiti, but only when done creatively. I certainly do not agree with the mindless vandalism caused by people simply spraying their tags all over the city. There is nothing creative about that.

Over the past few years I have spotted a growing number of interiors products that have been inspired by urban street art and I have always thought that strategic use of a select few of these products would look absolutely stunning in an industrial warehouse of loft conversion.

I especially like the recent trend for combining old, antique, classical furniture with raw, edgy graffiti art. It creates a really unexpected mix of styles that quite frankly are world’s apart, but somehow it works fantastically. Many traditionalists would probably look at this “Avin It” wardrobe by Burke & Hazelden and think of it as pure vandalism, but I think that this trend for “pimping” antique furniture is a great way for the younger generations to appreciate the style of furniture from years gone by.

One of the things that has enabled such a fabulous range of graffiti inspired furniture is the fact that technology has advanced allowing designers to take high-resolution photographs of authentic street art and transpose it onto the surface of interior products, which is exactly what Love Anna James did with the Verona cupboard.

London-based designer Jimmie Martin produces eclectic one-off pieces of furniture combining the decadent and quirky with the nostalgic and urban. The “Silver Imperfection” cabinet is clearly inspired by graffiti and is slightly more reminiscent of the vandalism element of street art.

There are also numerous wallpapers and wall murals on the market now that feature large-scale street art imagery that make a bold statement when used as a feature wall in residential interiors. Bloom Papers have a variety of papers available in the street art style. “Billboard”, whilst not exactly street art, is one of my personal favourites and was used on the cover of the July 2009 issue of Designer magazine for which my wallpaper article was the cover story. It is inspired by the layering effect that is created on large advertising billboards when the top layers of adverts are peeled away to reveal the layers below. I love the urban feel it creates.

Digitex also do an extensive range of wallpaper, fabrics, window blinds and cushions that can be customised with a whole array of images in pretty much any theme you can imagine. There are also many graffiti art inspired images in their collection such as the Carnaby wallpaper featured below.

Below are a few more products that I have picked out such as the graffiti furniture created by Matthew Highaam Antiques in collaboration with two international graffiti artists.

I also love this urban armchair by Ted Nemeth Designs inspired by the street art of Brooklyn. The artwork was designed by NYC street artist BLKINK.