The willow is a beloved native tree of the British Isles, a tree of watersides and low ground, and its branches fall in a way that suits ornament: long, slender, pendulous, curving back on themselves. Willow Branch uses that habit to build what is effectively an organic damask, the branches intertwining in full leaf, meeting and separating in the mirrored rhythm a damask depends on, but without any of a damask's formality.
It is taken from the Cole & Son screen print archive, and the original analogue print marks have been kept rather than cleaned up. That is the difference between this and a digitally redrawn version: the pigment sits slightly unevenly, edges are marginally soft, and where colours overlap there is a faint doubling. Those small imperfections give the design a delicate depth on the wall that a perfectly registered print never has.
Printed on a non-woven ground, it hangs and strips more easily than a traditional paper, which is worth having on a design likely to go into a rented flat or a room that will be changed. The scale is generous but not overwhelming, and a whole room of it works better than a single wall. It suits a bedroom, a drawing room or a hall, with plain linen, painted joinery and furniture that does not compete with the curve.
