Rajapur is the house paisley: large in scale, simply laid out, and drawn with enough space around each figure that the pattern never becomes a mass. It is one of those Cole & Son designs that has stayed in production because the drawing is good rather than because it is fashionable. Paisley has been drawn every conceivable way since it left Kashmir. What marks this one out is its calm, and the fact that the drawing has never been fussed with.
The character comes from the outline. The paisley is described by a fine continuous line filled with restrained internal detail, so at a distance it reads almost as a silhouette and only resolves into ornament close to. The range of colourways is unusually broad and covers both directions the design can take: sugared tonal palettes where the figure barely separates from its ground, and sharper combinations where it stands clear.
At this scale the pattern needs room, and it does better on a full wall than in short returns. A stair, a bedroom or a wide landing all take it comfortably, and it will sit behind pictures without arguing with them. Where a textured surface is wanted, the same design exists as a flocked paper and as a printed velvet.
