Arlo & Jacob

A custom print commission from Arlo & Jacob. Still in production a few years later, which is always a good sign.

The brief: a print that fits into people's homes rather than taking them over. It needed to mix — with stripes, checks, florals, solid colours — and to sit comfortably within the existing Arlo & Jacob range. Animal prints were the reference point. They've always been useful in this way; they somehow get along with almost everything.

The spot I designed is loose and brushy — more scatter than repeat, printed in navy on cream across the full upholstered chair. The idea behind it is the same idea behind mixing prints generally: put a small mark next to a large one and something interesting happens. Ralph Lauren understood this. Willow, check, animal in the same room. It shouldn't work on paper, but it does.