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Heritage in interiors

These wall panels show how heritage can be applied in interiors through textile upcycling, using everyday printed matter that has lost its original function but remains culturally recognisable.

The starting point for this work is a collection of vintage sugar packets from the 1960s–1970s. Originally designed for cafés and the hospitality sector, they feature names, illustrations, and typography that refer to places and moments from everyday life. As individual objects they are old and fragile, but together they form a recognisable visual archive of everyday heritage.

A well known example of printed ephemera as everyday visual heritage is documented by the Bodleian Libraries (University of Oxford).

From sugar packet to wall panel

The sugar packets were first scanned at high resolution. In this phase the images are analysed, enlarged, retouched and printed. This step is used as a design tool to create rhythm and cohesion between fragments. In this way, the imagery is detached from its original function and prepared for application in an interior setting.

The edited image is then transferred onto textile using sublimation printing. The soft material gives the graphic print a new tactility and scale, making it suitable for use as a wall panel. The enlargement shifts attention from individual illustrations to the pattern and the composition as a whole.

Between the printed elements, small cross stitch motifs are machine embroidered. They refer to the handwork of the sugar packet era and create a visual link to other panels in the series.

Application in interiors

The panels function as fragments of a larger visual field. They can be used individually or combined in a series, depending on the space and the desired level of recognisability. In interiors, this type of heritage does not function as illustration, but as a spatial carrier of collective memory.

This prototype shows how heritage can take on a new role in interiors through textile upcycling. The technique can be transferred to other collections, archives or image material with historical or emotional significance, whether drawn from existing holdings or supplied by clients.

Read this blog to explore storytelling in interior design through heritage and recognisable imagery.

This work is part of the Heritage Material Design series, in which the reuse of imagery and materials is central. The series focuses on making everyday history visible in contemporary spaces, with nostalgia and decorative hindsight as part of its visual language.