In conjunction with the Royal College of Art, Crown Paints are excited to announce the latest unique and stylish stencils from the Crown Jewels collection.

Crown Paint and the Royal College of Art embarked on an exciting and unique collaboration to design the Crown Jewels – modern, stylish and inspired stencils for the home. A brief was given to second year textile and fashion students at the RCA to create a decorative stencil for use in the home as a DIY ‘interior design’ tool – to be painted directly onto surfaces within the home using Crown paints. From edgy and contemporary wall art through to more traditional motifs – the results were eclectic, inspired and stunning.
Northumberland partnership The Stencil Library was chosen to cut and sell the winning designs on behalf of Crown Paint.  Helen Morris from the Stencil Library helped with the brief and showed some of the students how to stencil.
The collaboration has spanned two years so far.

The first of the prize winners was Kyu Seon Lee. His ‘Image Furniture’ stencil featured a large chandelier from which the user was encouraged to hang every day objects such as house keys and bottle openers.

‘Image Furniture’ was followed by ‘Baroque Cats’, a design from Alex Mattsson.

The stencil offered an over sized cat sitting atop a set of books.

They could be purchased as a set or independently.

The third instalment from the first year of the Crown Jewels competition introduced Maureen Hung and her collection of shoe motifs entitled ‘Cinderella goes shopping’.

The final innovative designer from the first crop of winners was Bronwen Marshall .  She brought us ‘Antlers’

Bronwen’s graduate collection of avant-garde menswear was widely lauded, and as a result she has the eyes of the fashion world set firmly upon her, eager to see what is next to come.

Bronwen commented ‘I chose antlers because they are really relevant to the mood of fashion at the moment. Designers and artists are feeling inspired by the dark romanticism of taxidermy and skulls, from Damien Hurst to Alexander McQueen. My stencil designs are an inexpensive way for people to modernise their homes without having any real gore on their walls!’
Retail prices are: Giselle – £15.00, Moose – £19.00 and Stag – £25.00, with the whole set retailing at £50.00

‘Consequences of a house Party’ by Nabil El-Nayal was the overall winner of the competition the following year.

Nabil’s design was chosen due to its completely original concept and the quirky inspiration behind it.
The avant-garde new stencils are set to lend a directional look to the walls of any home and are sure to be a talking point at social gatherings.

The Martini Glass stencil retails at: £24.00

The contributions from the three runners up were no less exciting.
Morten Underbjerg Olesen chose to create a modern interpretation of a classic and beautiful rose design. Morten commented: “I have chosen to make a modern version of a rose stencil. I was inspired by the contrast between the organic wild rose and simple hand drawn lines.”

Rose stencil retails at £39.00

The Folk Birds and Gakubuchi stencils are the final designs to be launched as part of the Crown Jewels stencil collection and are contemporary designs with an irreverent edge.

The Folk Birds stencils were designed by Emma Bradbury, a recent graduate of the RCA’s MA in Constructed Textiles, specialising in knitted textiles. The stencil was inspired by Polish Wycinaki paper cuts and how traditionally, polish homemakers used to decorate their domestic living spaces with symmetrical paper cut patterns featuring symbols of everyday rural life, such as birds, animals and flowers.  The stencils have a handmade aesthetic and will ultimately create a bold statement on any wall of a home.

The Gakubuchi (Japanese for ‘Picture Frame’) stencils are the creation of Miyoko Kamijo, a recent graduate of the RCA’s MA in Womenswear. The intricate and ornate frame design is the perfect addition to a feature wall. It makes a real statement when left empty, but could easily provide a stunning backdrop to a simple piece of artwork or even a mirror.
The Stencil Library’s Helen Morris is excited by the potential of all these designs. She says ‘A stencil is such a versatile tool. I am hoping to use Emma’s paper cut stencil in a huge size, painted in scarlet onto white walls, the effect will be similar to a quilt I liked from the film Mama Mia. One of the wonderful things about stencils is that you can reuse them many times and I fancy filling entire walls with Miyoko’s picture frame and placing random objects into some of the frames’.

The striking new stencils are set to add character to the walls of any home this season; they are easy to use and great for anyone looking for a quick way to revamp a room in style.

Wendy Dagworthy, Head of Fashion and Textiles at the RCA comments:
‘Once again the students have really enjoyed the challenge from Crown and have produced some exceptional work. It is fantastic to give them the opportunity of working with such a fantastic brand and with such a creative brief.’

The Folk Birds stencil retails at £39.00 and the Gakubuchi stencil at £90.00.
All stencils from www.stencil-library.com

Photography and further information about the designers or competition can be obtained from Helen Morris at The Stencil Library helen@stencil-library.com tel 01661 844844 or Jemma Goodland Crown Paint Press Office at Frank PR Tel: 020 7693 6999 email: crownpaint@frankpr.it

For decorating tips, inspiration or to order pure paint samples visit the Crown website www.crownpaint.co.uk
The Crown Jewels stencils have been produced by the Stencil Library and are now available to order from http://www.stencil-library.com/crown-rca-stencils.html
For stencilling tips, projects and inspiration visit The Stencil Library blog www.designinspiration.typead.com
The Stencil Library shop is open Mon-Sat 9-5.30.  Stocksfield Hall, Stocksfield, Northumberland.