Beata Heuman x de Gournay: A New York residency in full bloom

This winter, celebrated interior designer Beata Heuman and creators of the world’s finest wallpapers and porcelains, de Gournay, have joined forces to create an immersive residency in Manhattan.

The highly-detailed installation transposes Heuman’s whimsical style from her London base, with two rooms at de Gournay’s Upper East Side showroom enveloped in Heuman’s signature wit and character. The collaboration introduces two new wallpapers and a series of porcelain products, and provides a rare glimpse into Heuman’s world, with furniture, lighting, fabrics and products from Heuman’s acclaimed 'Shoppa' collection shipped over from the UK to establish a vivid dialogue with de Gournay’s unparalleled artistry.

Since establishing her eponymous studio in London in 2013, Swedish-born Beata Heuman has become one of the most celebrated voices in contemporary interior design, renowned for her thoughtful storytelling and her ability to weave playful references into highly considered spaces. Heuman has earned international acclaim for her vibrant, detail-driven interiors, which she distilled into her 2021 book bearing the title of her trademark design philosophy: Every Room Should Sing.

Global design house De Gournay was founded in 1986, born of Claud Cecil Gurney’s quest to find artisans who could revive traditional wallpaper restoration. The family-owned atelier’s wallpapers and wall coverings are intricately hand-painted and hand-embroidered, resulting in a singular artistry that blurs the line between interior setting and scenographic artistry.

“I have known of them for as long as I have worked in interiors, which is over 20 years,” Heuman shares of her long relationship with de Gournay, before recalling “the fabulous party they threw at Houghton seven years ago” as a stand-out memory. “I was eight months pregnant and had the time of my life! An industry event for the ages,” she adds.

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At the heart of their collaboration lies the launch of two new wallpaper designs: 'Fruit Garden' and 'Delft Folly'. “The story of Fruit Garden actually begins around give years ago”, Heuman says. “I had just found out that there was a house available on the farm in the South of Sweden, where I grew up. It was autumn – the plan was to have it all ready for the next summer, and I had a lot to get on with.” As if by magic (“that is really how it felt!”) Harald Donoghue, Director of Special Projects at de Gournay, contacted Heuman that November, wondering if there might be a bespoke design project on which they could collaborate. “Yes… I think I’ll be able to think of something suitable…”, Heuman jokes of the serendipitous timing.

What resulted was a deeply personal tribute to Heuman’s family’s garden in Skåne, drawing from the orchard planted by her great-grandfather, and the flower beds tended to by her mother. Fruit Garden depicts apple trees in blossom, wildflowers in riotous colour, birds in motion, and fruit at various stages of imperfect ripeness, and even decay. A lyrical, season-defying panorama, Heuman has explained that it was partly inspired by Rome’s ancient Villa Livia fresco, the world’s earliest surviving garden painting.

As for when Heuman realised that the motif could evolve into a full de Gournay wallpaper? “I fell in love with the design immediately, so I always thought it ‘had legs’, so to speak. Launching it as a product wasn’t my initial ambition, I just wanted to create something special and personal for our Swedish home. I have become really close with the de Gournay team in the process of this and other things since, so when they suggested the collaboration about a year ago, I jumped at the opportunity. I adore working with them, it is amazing for us to be in New York showing our work, and Fruit Garden is one of my proudest moments! It was a no-brainer.”

For its new iteration, Fruit Garden has been subtly reimagined with additional fragile narrative details, including the glow of dawn light and a whimsical garden wall threaded with unruly blooms. “It has been good to live with Fruit Garden for some years before launching it as an official design, as it allowed me to ponder how it might evolve. The ombre effect of a dawn gently rising from the horizon is something I kept going back to as an idea over the years, and it has made an exquisite addition. The garden wall was added to replace the dado panel I have in the room in Sweden, as I realised the design benefitted from being raised off the ground. I have also added a few gilver fruits, which glamorously catch the light here and there.”

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Ever enthusiastic about the discovery of such elements, Heuman says “The best rooms are those where you can’t take everything in at once, and Fruit Garden really does invite you to explore – and when you do, you’re rewarded. There are endless details to discover in the design: delicate insects whose iridescent wings might take off at any moment, lazy frogs hiding in the dewy grass, a rarely seen nightingale singing on a branch. The flowers are those my mother has in her garden on the farm and she has spent many decades finessing and considering her beds, which is a story all in itself.”

With a design so rooted in Heuman’s personal narrative, how does de Gournay approach translating such intimate inspiration into wallpaper? Donoghue shares that “de Gournay's in-house design team relish the opportunity to work on bespoke briefs of this kind with clients, and Beata’s vivid imagination and clear vision for the scene got us off to an excellent start. It's a gradual process of composition and layering to achieve the desired result.” Further delving into the technical craft of producing the work, Donoghue continues: “Unlike the first iteration of 'Fruit Garden' in Beata's Swedish home, this new installation uses a painted ombré effect on its background – creating a quietly dramatic sense of lighting, suggestive either of dawn or dusk (but not definitive of either). It conjures a surreal sense of theatricality to the trees and the carpet of wildflowers, all of which are painted by hand on a 'xuan' paper background, composed of rice fibre.”

While the vertical walls themselves are wrapped in Fruit Garden, the collaboration doesn’t end at the ceiling, with the bright blue and white Delft Folly suspended above the room. The design – a diamond-pane pattern – forms a folkloric sky that crowns the space with light and charm. Of the inspiration behind it, Heuman says, “As we built the scheme for New York, there was this gridded mill work ceiling we needed to do something with. I drew inspiration from the tiled fireplace I have in my Swedish dining room to create a stylised oversized delft tile design, each square having its own unique design.”

The residency also debuts exclusive porcelain pieces created for the collaboration, shaped and painted entirely by hand using centuries-old techniques. Among them is the standout “Gilver Goose” tureen: a playful reinterpretation of one of de Gournay’s classic shapes: “The Geese are an existing figurine from de Gournay's standard collection of hand-carved, fired and painted Blanc de Chine porcelain”, Donoghue explains, “reimagined in this instance by Beata with a striking 'Gilver' glaze, painted by hand in a particular shade of pewtery metal. The trick is to ensure the right density so the hand carved details of ruffled feathers are not obscured.”

Also new are a vide-poche and candlesticks in “faux-bois” style, shaped and painted by hand to recall the bold decorative traditions of the Victorian era. These pieces appear throughout the vignette-like settings that Heuman has arranged within the showroom, echoing the fusion of craftsmanship, storytelling, and humour that defines the entire installation.

The designs are clearly the outcome of a partnership built on trust and mutual creative respect, with Heuman sharing that she could be free to “do exactly what I want (more or less)! In a sense, de Gournay is my client, but they just wanted me to express myself, so the exciting thing is to make all these creative decisions without having to adjust or take a client’s preferences into account.” de Gournay’s admiration for Heuman’s work reflects this balance: “Beata has created a brand based on a beautiful, functional and engaging expression of her internal world, and applies this fluency to every product, object or idea she conceives. The winning elegance of the wallpaper and porcelain is testament to this.”

The residency's New York location is both a personal and professional milestone for Heuman, marking the first time her interiors, furniture, fabrics, and Shoppa pieces have been exhibited at this scale in the United States. “de Gournay love to use our showrooms as staging spaces for wider projects than just our own”, Donoghue offers. “It's a wonderful way to encourage visitors who might not know us as well, and as Beata does not have a USA outpost of her own, it gives her a chance to engage with her American clientele directly.” Of seeing her Swedish dining room transposed onto the Upper East Side, Heuman exclaims, “It’s surreal and thrilling! I feel very at home.”

The residency is open to all to visit at 243 East 59th Street until April 2026, with Heuman periodically hosting talks and walkthroughs to share insights into the collaborative spirit that shaped the bespoke collection. Of its current festive inclusions, Donoghue imparts, “The Christmas season gave us an extra layering opportunity for this small portion of Beata’s Swedish world transposed to the heart of Manhattan. As the residency continues into the new year, guests will be able to visit post-Christmas to see a new iteration of the interiors. We're excited to re-style the spaces for 2026.”, he adds.

Heuman sums it up by saying she hopes that visitors to her temporary New York home will leave feeling both “inspired and uplifted”. Undoubtedly, the sentiment will echo far beyond de Gournay’s townhouse this winter, with a joyful, Swedish air emanating from its rooms, and into the streets of Manhattan.