SHOWROOM / Fresco Mural for Whittaker Wells
Halfway along the bustling Whiteladies Road, in the Redland and Clifton area of Bristol, amongst interiors shops and excellent cafés, stands Whittaker Wells. Proud and punchy, you can’t miss it; with its spherical topiary, huge Anglepoise lamps and eye-catching windows.
Colourful, confident, and cleverly mixing cutting edge design with contemporary classics, this interiors showroom is an irresistible destination for Avon customers and many creative London re-locators looking to embrace colour, define their own personal style and create an exceptional and individual home.
The owners are the generous and friendly ‘boys who sew,’ Ryan Whittaker and Peter Eastwood, who have filled their showroom with style and a sense of fun. There are plenty of statement products and stand-out interiors offerings that are of the highest quality, full of craft and character, and always interesting. They are stockists of Timorous Beasties, Arte, Kit Miles and House of Hackney, to name a few, as well championing several local artists and artisans.
With a stylish crowd to serve and a desire to stand apart, Whittaker Wells commissioned Aster Muro to produce a bespoke fresco mural for their showroom. This would not only create a beautiful wall and an exciting talking point in the space, but it would also allow clients to appreciate a fresco in person, and in its context.
The mural wall stands in a front room, the ‘black room,’ with high ceilings, period details, and beautiful light coming in from the shopfront glazing. An old, wide chimney breast, it offered a good sized canvas to work with, of about two and a half metres square.
We began with historical and contextual research and discovered that the building started life as a finishing school. It has a vast music room at the rear with a domed ceiling and there are stained glass windows referencing music and theatre around the building. Following this, it became the Rialto Hotel, until the early 1940s, after which it began a photography studio. Empty for five years between 2011 and 2016, it was then taken up by Ryan and Peter and transformed into the Whittaker Wells showroom.
Taking our lead from this theatrical and musical heritage, we delved into our picture research, developed our concept, and composed a moodboard inspired by the theatrical connection, performance, exotic plumage, Cleopatra, feline power, gilding, evening light, Venice, and masked balls. After completing the studio practice walls to experiment with composition, and test out colours, we were ready to create the piece.
On a baking hot day in the middle of May, Aster Muro ventured into town to install the fresco mural. After protecting surfaces, pinning up our inspirational pictures, perfecting the palette, laying out our tools and putting up ladders; we were ready to begin.
This is Cleo, complete, having been varnished two days later.
