Behind the scenes of the Disney Home X Sanderson collection

Beautifully produced from archive documents, Sanderson have collaborated with Disney Home to create an enchanting collection of fabrics and wallpapers for use all over the home. Wonderfully charming and nostalgic, we couldn't wait to hear more about the collection.

Hear from Lead Designer Rebecca Craig as she unveils some interesting behind the scenes details including the creative process involved and her favorite designs.

How did this collaboration first come about & what is the inspiration behind the collection?

Our connection to Disney dates to the late 1920s when we were first commissioned by The Walt Disney Company to produce a range of wallpaper and fabric. With Disney celebrating their 100-year anniversary this year, it was perfect timing to revisit these and collaborate on a new range of fabric and wallpaper.

The entire fabric and wallpaper collection has been inspired by precious original prints, wallpapers and literature found in the Sanderson archive from when we produced designs for Disney in the 1930s.

Do these reworked designs differ much from the archival wallpaper designs from the 1930s?

The designs we recolored from the archive came predominantly from fabric designs. For the wallpapers, these were designed using a variety of stickers, brochures and other Disney memorabilia that we had stored in our archive, and some assets from Disney’s own archive.

Minnie on the Move, for example, is a sticker that we interpreted into a fabric and wallpaper design.

What was the creative process involved to create a collection which perfectly embodies both brands?

The skill involved in the illustrative work, creating these iconic characters is so impressive. Disney artists and animators are dedicated to artistry, and this is something we mirror in our own ethos at Sanderson. We’re all deeply creative, we love making and creating and accuracy and detail is so important to us.

There are also the archives, ours and Disney’s, and this connection to our own pasts and the linking of brands is a very special part of our heritage that we really value. These designs that we have created for the Disney Home x Sanderson collection will go back into the archive, and be rediscovered one day in the future, and that is so exciting!

Where do you start when working with such iconic characters such as Mickey Mouse, Bambi & Peter Pan?

It depends on each character as to how we worked to create the designs. With Mickey Mouse, we used the original 1930s versions. That was really interesting to look back at Mickey and see how he has evolved. The whole collection has a hand crafted, vintage quality that we were keen to retain, so using 1930s Mickey was a natural fit.

For other characters, the excitement came with combining our own Sanderson archive references with these beloved characters. Bambi for instance, blended seamlessly with our archive floral design. You can see him hidden amongst the flowers as well as Thumper.

Can you tell us more about the print process involved with these designs?

The fabrics are all digitally printed on sustainable cotton. The benefits of using digital printing methods meant we could interpret the original block print mark really well. Most of these designs have over 25 colors layered up, they were so complex and evolved in that way. It would have been hard to produce that through conventional printing.

Many of the wallpapers were also digitally printed for the same reason, but some designs also used rotary print and gravure print processes. Using a variety of print processes for the wallpapers meant we could achieve the exact look and feel we wanted.

All fabrics and wallpapers are made and produced in the UK and a lot of care and dedication goes into the design and production processes.

What is your favorite design? Can you talk us through the process you went through to create this design?

The designs themselves stir up so many wonderful memories, it is pure nostalgia. We had many moments where we remembered things from our childhoods that were buried within our core memories. Everyone is really excited about this collection – it’s palpable in the studio.

It is so hard to select just one favorite, so I’ve sneakily picked a few for different reasons.

101 Dalmatians has been totally repainted. Taken from a Sanderson wallpaper we’ve recolored and added in the dalmatians, Perdita and Pongo, and their humans. It is so nostalgic and has a perfect balance of Sanderson and Disney.

Mickey at the Farm must be on my list because it is an original from the archive. The characters are of the 1930s era and the coloring is beautiful too. Macaron Green and Butterscotch are sublimely vintage.

Rebecca shared how much of an honor it was to work with Disney especially given Sanderson's history with them. For inspiration on how to style the collection or to browse all designs, use the links below.