Cole & Son | Circus

Circus is a panel rather than a paper. Overlapping harlequin diamonds are built up across the full width, layered so the colours read through one another and the geometry never quite settles. The effect is closer to a kaleidoscope than to a repeat, which is what the harlequin has always done in decoration, from Commedia dell'Arte costume onward.

Scale is the whole proposition. A full panel measures 3.15 m wide by 3 m high and arrives as six drops of 52.5 cm, hung in sequence to assemble the image. Set panels side by side and a room becomes completely immersive; use one alone against plain walls and it functions as a very large piece of framed abstract work. Bespoke sizes can be made to order.

It comes in a single colourway, and that is correct: a design built on the interaction between overlapping colours cannot be recoloured without becoming a different design altogether. It belongs where a bold, singular gesture is wanted and can be lived with, in a stairwell, a games room, a bar or the end wall of a large hall. Everything around it should be plain. Used singly against plain walls it functions as a very large abstract picture.