In this blog post, Flora Spens, Rights & Images Coordinator at Sir John Soane’s Museum, shares an inside look at how 18th-century drawings from the Museum's drawing collection inspired Zardi & Zardi’s new Fiori e Leoni wallpaper collection, and the creative process behind this collaboration.

From Drawing Office to Design Studio

Working in Brand Licensing at the Soane, I’ve been fortunate to see the latest Inspired by Soane Brand Licensing collaboration between Sir John Soane’s Museum and historic textile specialists Zardi & Zardi unfold from its earliest moments.

It began in the Museum, where we invited the Zardi design team to meet with Dr Frances Sands, Curator of Drawings & Books, to view treasures from Soane’s collection of over 30,000 works on paper not normally on display.

Among them, we unveiled Manocchi’s architectural drawings from the 1760s - ceiling designs decorated with garlands, cherubs and grotesques - and a group of romantic floral watercolours by an unknown silk designer, possibly a young Huguenot artist working in mid-18th-century London. The challenge for the designers was to sympathetically translate these delicate, hand-crafted works into something new: patterns that would work confidently on the walls and fabrics of modern interiors, without losing the poetry and language as seen in the originals.

An intricate neoclassical design featuring symmetrical scrollwork, floral motifs, and decorative garlands in muted tones of gold, blue, and red on a cream background. The pattern includes framed cameo-style medallions with classical figures, ornate urns, and a central domed structure supported by slender columns. Additional details include small lions, cherubs, and mythological scenes along the borders Black ink botanical drawing on cream paper showing an intricate arrangement of flowers, leaves, and stems. The design includes large, ruffled blooms, spiky thistle-like flowers, and clusters of small buds, all rendered in fine line detail.

Above left: SM Adam volume 16/37, Ardon Bar-Hama © Sir John Soane’s Museum
Above right: Unidentified 18th-century draughtsman, SM 58/11/38, Ardon Bar-Hama © Sir John Soane’s Museum

“To bring this collection to life we focused on colour and composition” 

says Rosie Watts, Designer at Zardi & Zardi. “Intentionally chosen to echo the original drawings, a warm and subtle palette of terracotta reds, earthy greens and gentle ochres. Printed across a subtly textured parchment ground and a luxurious pearlescent mica paper, the collection blends heritage and modernity – creating a subtle yet striking statement for contemporary spaces.”

This great attention to tone, texture, and detail lies at the heart of new ‘Fiori e Leoni’ collection, which brings these exquisite drawings to life, transforming them into beautiful wallpaper designs.

wo sheets of patterned wallpaper shown overlapping. The top sheet has a cream background with a repeating design of golden lions standing on ornate red platforms, surrounded by curling vines with green leaves and small floral details. The bottom sheet has the same design but on a dark blue background, with muted gold and red tones for the lions and platforms. Both patterns have a classical, decorative style.

Above: Leone wallpaper in two colourways, Carta and Marina  © Mike Garlick

 

In Conversation with Dr Frances Sands

When I asked Fran what drew her to these particular drawings as inspiration for a potential design collection, her answer was simple and clear:

“Giuseppe Manocchi’s work stands out for its precision and elegance” 

she explains. “As one of the Adam brothers’ draughtsmen, his designs capture that transition into the Neoclassical style - full of harmony, rhythm, and decorative refinement. They were created to inspire, and in a sense, this collaboration returns them to that original purpose. 

The drawings by Manocchi are a real treasure trove of creative inspiration. The undulating and foliate motifs interspersed with human and animal figures are as joyful as eighteenth-century interior design ever got. They themselves were inspired by Raphael’s magnificent work in the Loggia at the Vatican.”

The Soane’s partnership with Zardi & Zardi felt natural, she continues: “Zardi & Zardi approached the original drawings with real sensitivity. They studied the lines, colours and motifs with great respect. The result isn’t just replication, it’s clever interpretation. The drawings have a second life, as they were always meant to.”

One of the most intriguing strands of the collection comes from those mysterious floral studies - delicate sepia ink and watercolour drawings of peonies, cornflowers and dog roses. Fran believes they were intended as embroidery or silk designs:

“They’re so intimate,” she says. “Unlike the structured order of Manocchi’s ceilings, these drawings are full of movement and spontaneity. Their creator is unknown, but that anonymity adds a certain romance. They offer a softer, more personal approach to Manocchi’s grand designs.”

That sense of duality - structure and flourish, order and unpredictability - runs throughout Fiori e Leoni. It’s what gives the collection its distinct rhythm: lions poised among garlands, arabesques trailing through imagined loggias, flowers blooming in parchment tones that seem both ancient and contemporary.

A long, narrow decorative panel featuring an intricate Rococo-style design with scrolling foliage, flowers, and medallions in green, pink, gold, and red tones on a cream background, framed by a thin black border. A long, narrow decorative panel featuring an ornate Rococo-style design with swirling foliage and flowers in soft pink, green, gold, and blue tones. Four cherubs are integrated into the scrollwork, each surrounded by delicate floral motifs, all set against a cream background and framed by a thin black border. Two overlapping sheets of decorative wallpaper with a delicate floral and vine pattern in soft green, red, and gold tones on a cream background.

Above left: SM Adam volume 15/38, Ardon Bar-Hama © Sir John Soane’s Museum.
Above centre: SM Adam volume 16/16, Ardon Bar-Hama © Sir John Soane’s Museum
Above right:  Fiorella Miele © Mike Garlick

 

Bringing History into the Home

For Rosie and her team, that dialogue between history and modernity was key.

“This collection brings historic drawings of Giuseppe Manocchi and other 18th-century designers to life”. Rosie explains. “By reinterpreting their motifs – from lions and garlands to delicate florals – in modern scale, colour and texture, each piece captures the elegance and spirit of the original sketches while offering a fresh, contemporary perspective.”

Her description perfectly encapsulates the philosophy behind the Museum’s licensing collaborations. Our licensing projects not only celebrate our collections but also allow new audiences to experience them in fresh and relevant ways.

“Collaborations like this extend the life of our collections,” Fran reflects.


“These drawings were made to be used – to decorate, to inspire. Seeing them reimagined for the present is a continuation of that creative legacy.”
Dining area with a round wooden table, striped upholstered chairs, and a decorative bowl of pomegranates. A geometric glass pendant light hangs above, and the wall behind is covered in dark green damask-patterned wallpaper with a repeating ornate leaf motif terior scene with a deep blue upholstered sofa and a red cushion in front of a wall covered in dark blue wallpaper featuring a repeating pattern of stylized animals and floral motifs in gold and red. An ornate oval mirror with a decorative frame hangs on the wall, and a patterned rug is visible on the floor Interior with a striped green and white upholstered chair and a patterned cushion placed against a wall covered in cream wallpaper featuring a repeating design of stylized lions and floral motifs in gold, red, and blue. A large distressed wooden cabinet stands to the right, and a decorative red lion head wall ornament hangs above the chair

Above (left to right): Fantasia Eden, Leone Marina and Leone Carta © Mike Garlick

Launched at Decorex International this October, where Fran and PJ Keeling, Zardi & Zardi’s Director, introduced the collection in conversation, Fiori e Leoni marks a new chapter in the Museum’s design partnerships. It’s a testament to what happens when historic archives meet contemporary craftsmanship - when curators and makers work together to unlock the beauty of the past for the interiors of today.

As Rosie notes, “Working with the Soane to access and celebrate these remarkable 18th-century drawings has been a rare privilege – offering the opportunity to reinterpret history through a modern lens.”

For us at the Soane, it’s a reminder that Sir John Soane’s spirit of imagination and reinvention lives on, not only within the walls of his Museum, but in every creative collaboration that we support.

To explore the full Fiori e Leoni collection, head to the Zardi & Zardi website by clicking here.

 

Banner image: Detail from SM Adam volume 16/37, Ardon Bar-Hama © Sir John Soane’s Museum