Orchid is a large-scale floral drawn with unusual economy. The blossoms are given in full, but the leaves that carry them are elongated almost to the point of abstraction, so what climbs the wall is as much a set of long verticals as it is a flower. That vertical pull is the design's real subject and the reason it flatters a room with height.
The drawing keeps its distance from botanical illustration. There is little modelling and almost no shadow; the flower is stated and then left alone, which gives the pattern a graphic clarity that survives being seen from the far side of a room. Because the motifs are spaced rather than massed, the ground does a great deal of the work, and the design changes character considerably between its bolder and its paler colourways. Seen as a small sample it is easy to underestimate; on a wall it is not.
It belongs in rooms with a clear architectural frame, a panelled bedroom, a landing, a bathroom with tall proportions, where the leaves can run uninterrupted for a decent length before meeting a cornice. Against plain linen, painted timber and a restrained floor it stays elegant rather than merely decorative, which is not always true of flowers at this scale.
