Creation of a water garden | Mizu Garden by Mokum

When selecting motifs, we returned to our original intent and looked at traditional hand-painted Japanese artworks, particularly those featuring birds, florals, and landscapes. Elegant cranes are a symbol of luck and longevity in Asian cultures; therefore, they were chosen to be the focal point in the landscape.

We then chose to include peony and wisteria flowers from our previous La Primavera prints to tie into our original Papillon and Peonia print designs; the waterlilies and peonies edge our water garden whilst bamboo and wisteria trees frame the scene. Revisiting and reinterpreting previous themes extends our creativity while grounding it in a larger body of work, making new creative directions tangible for designers and users of our products.

The tangible limitations and commercial restraints of producing a panel artwork and ensuring a creative and agile design which functions as a panel wallpaper and continuous drapery presented themselves early in the design process. The studio refined and reviewed base-cloth and substrate options to ensure functionality in print sizes, wall and window heights, and digital printing restrictions. 

Our final selection of an elegant non-woven wallpaper replicates the aesthetic of handmade parchment and is printed with a subtle iridescent finish, reminiscent of the original ‘silk screen’ inspiration, adding further sophistication to the design. 

The drapery solution is a semi-transparent, wide 100% linen base cloth, imbued with an essence of calm and the feel of contemporary drapery. Further fabric development was undertaken to refine the finish through a tumbling process which created a luxurious and soft drape that is semi-transparent, resulting in a serene and theatrical, dreamlike scene.

Mokum’s creative process begins on the pattern repeat, drawing motif references as a placement guide for the commissioned artist. This forms the basis of the artists brief along-side references of the chosen painting style, in this case watercolour, and additional motif references.  

The connection and creative alignment with the artist is critical to achieve a superb looking design that will also be commercially successful. Mokum’s preferred artist expertly hand paints the artwork, sharing her progress photos via email which she delightfully calls “over the shoulder.” This is an exhilarating stage of the development for the studio as we begin to visually witness our creation take shape.

The complete artwork is scanned at high resolution and digitally cleaned before we begin the most important stage of colour work. This is where the secret sauce is added – part science, part art, part intuition. Colours are not equal and colour spectrum preferences find nuance throughout our markets, therefore colouring the final design is a critical stage. Our final colourway, Oasis, is composed of a warm parchment base with traditionally coloured flora and fauna which create a serene landscape and speak to the concept of Ikigai, the master collection.

The result is a serene hand painted oasis inspired by Japanese watercolour paintings, its name Mizu derives from the Japanese word for water. Red-crowned cranes elegantly wade within the Mizu Garden, surrounded by floral motifs referencing waterlilies, peonies, and wisteria. 

The nuanced palette is anchored in mineral green foliage and accented by expertly hand painted floral motifs in shades of pink, red, and purple. Mizu Garden has been printed continuously onto a soft 100% linen base cloth, creating a semi translucent, atmospheric watercolour print with a coordinating wallpaper panel. We hope this hand-crafted design brings you joy!