The ultimate bespoke wallpaper is designed by a 5 year old!

Hello design lovers!

Has anyone of you ever dreamt of colouring their bedroom walls as a kid? I'm sure you have. As a teenager, one day I decided to write on my walls with a black marker and it felt extraordinarily good! I had one wall entirely scribbled with quotes from Jim Morrison and I loved it! It had the look of freedom.

That's why, when the Italian wallpaper brand Carta da parati artistica asked me to be one of the judges in a competition called "Colour your nursery", I got very excited!

Why that? Because the winner got her own sketch transformed in a bespoke wallpaper!

How it worked

The competition took place in November this year and was opened to kids until 5 years old. Everyone was asked to make a drawing.

Then, for a couple of weeks, people could “like” their favourite drawings on the brand’s Facebook page. The 10 drawings with most likes accessed the second step: the judges!

I had the pleasure to be one of them, together with other bloggers and designers. We were asked to order the 10 drawings on a scale from 1 to 10. Believe me, taking a decision was no easy task: the drawings were all really cute and I couldn’t stand the idea of assigning marks to them! Therefore I decided to follow my guts and also to consider some technical requirements that may have affected the final result.

For example, I thought that too dark drawings would look a bit heavy on an entire wall. So I preferred light and relaxing shades (kids have to sleep in there, right?). It must have been a common criteria for the other judges as well since the three finalists are all quite light and warm.

The Winner - Bespoke Wallpaper

The big prize went to Angelica, a five year old who lives in the south of Italy with her family. I’m sure she will be thrilled to finally see her wallpaper on the wall!

The Italian architect Giorgia Congiu is the mind behind this interesting initiative. I asked her a few questions as I was curious to discover more! M. Hi Giorgia!

Tell me about Carta da Parati Artistica. What's the concept behind this brand?

G. Well, working as an architect I always have to look for trends, new materials, and good quality details. My passion for art&interior - together with my techy side - led me to the creation of Carta da Parati Artistica: we make artistic wallpapers thanks to the collaboration between architects, graphic designers, and photographers. The idea is that every wallpaper is a giant piece of art, the centrepiece of the room.

*Talking about centrepieces, here you can discover how to make your fireplace the focal point of the room!

M. How did you come up with "Colour your nursery?"

G. We always look for fresh ideas to show our brand's vision. On this occasion, we liked the idea of involving kids, showing them that even their wild imagination can be transformed in a reality. Every kid dreams of drawing on the walls, so we started with this idea to develop the project.

M. What was the main challenge that you had to face?

G. It was a technical challenge: how to make a wallcovering out of an A4 drawing!

M. Oh, me and my readers love technical details! What sort of changes did you have to make to the drawing?

G. The main technical issue that we had to overcome was the drawing's resolution. In fact, an A4 format is not big enough to cover an entire wall without showing the pixels! Our graphic designers have been working hard to recreate the drawing, in a higher quality that suits Angelica's bedroom walls.

M. Many of my readers are not Italian. Will they be able to buy the wallpaper even out of Italy?

G. We'll print this particular design exclusively for the winner. However, all our ranges are sold online and of course, can be posted abroad!

M. What did you find most satisfying during this whole experience?

G. We were really happy to see how well people responded on social media. Many took part and loved what we were trying to do!

And that's the little story of this contest! I hope to discover more initiatives like this. If you fancy some kids' design inspiration have a look below. I put together a Pinterest board for you!