Sometimes an image is so strong you can’t get it out of your head. This is what Rick and Esther Vintage experienced when they first encountered the work of Ekaterina Panikanova while visiting a gallery in Rome. Struck by the power of the artwork, NLXL invited her to colloborate on a wallpaper collection.
The Biblioteca collection comprises old books on which large paintings have been painted, ultimately resulting in seven designs (five murals and two wallpaper rolls).
Says Panikanova, “I like working on old books: I like the way the wear and tear; underlinings, notes and scribblings enable me to perceive the personalities of the people who have read them. Each book has a history, it is the story of its reader. The collection is a research that speaks of private memory consisting of free associations. It is a project that brings my work within the home, within the family where everything started.”
Panikanova’s work has been exhibited twice in Sara Zanins’ Z2O Galleria in Rome. At the last exhibition all work was sold out on the opening night.
Says NLXL founder Rick Vintage, “It was a difficult task for us to translate the 3D artwork to a wallpaper design. The original artwork is so overwhelming, but after a long process we finally got it right. The final product has the same impact as the original.”
ALL ABOUT EKATERINA PANIKANOVA
Ekaterina Panikanova was born in 1975 in St. Petersburg; since 2009 she has lived and worked in Rome. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg. Her work has been exhibited in the Russian Union of Artists, at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Rome, Venice and New York.
ALL ABOUT NLXL
Founded in the Netherlands in 2010, NLXL is known for Scrapwood Wallpaper, winner of the Editor’s award at ICFF New York in 2011, brainchild of designer Piet Hein Eek and NLXL founders Rick and Esther Vintage. The company introduced Brooklyn Tins Wallpaper for Paris-based concept store Merci, Concrete Wallpaper by Piet Boon and Remixed. Wallpaper by Arthur Slenk. Scrapwood Wallpaper 2 by Piet Hein Eek was introduced in 2013 followed by Archives Wallpaper by Studio Job in 2014. This collection won the company’s 2nd Editor’s award at ICFF New York. NLXL Wallpapers have no repeat – this is what makes NLXL wallpapers unique. The collections are available at over 3,000 resellers in 70 countries.
For more info visit www.nlxl.com
