British design house Sanderson has collaborated with Highgrove to produce a new collection of fabric and wallpaper celebrating some of the rich variety of flora and fauna to be found in His Majesty The King's Gloucestershire garden.
A team of artists from Sanderson spent hundreds of hours immersed in the 15-acre garden, painting and drawing the flowers, plants and structures. The King has famously devoted significant energy over the past 45 years to transforming the gardens, in his words, to ‘please the eye and sit in harmony with nature’. Managed organically and sustainably, they have become an important haven for plants and wildlife.
The collection comprises wallpapers, fabrics, weaves and embroideries and features damasks, toiles and tapestries as well as garden plans and archive florals in Sanderson’s signature shades. ‘Topiary View’ reimagines the Yew Topiary, Thyme Walk and Kitchen Garden at Highgrove from a bird’s eye view and is available as a printed wallpaper and fabric. A mural wallpaper, meanwhile, is a vision of the iconic Carpet Garden, created from a sketch made by The King and inspired by the shapes and colours found in Turkish carpets in his collection.
Seeds of collaboration were sown when CEO of Sanderson Lisa Montague and Highgrove’s retail director Scott Simpson met at a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust event. A team from Sanderson was invited to visit the garden. ‘I recall seeing the arboretum for the first time in February, revisiting it in May, and being blown away by the magic of this botanical garden in full bloom,’ says Rebecca Craig, lead designer at Sanderson. ‘You were suddenly faced with all this colour, a completely wonderful sensory overload.’
To form the collection, Sanderson partnered with The King’s Foundation, the custodian of Highgrove Gardens. The charity, founded in 1990, works to build sustainable communities and transform lives through education programmes in traditional heritage skills, some of which are based on-site at Highgrove. A percentage of net sales from the collection will go back to the charity.
While many of the designs are inspired by the garden, Sanderson also delved into its 165-year-old archive at Voysey House in Chiswick to reimagine original documents. ‘Our archive is a treasure trove of historical depictions of nature at its finest and details how Nature has influenced the English decorating narrative over the centuries,’ explains the team at Sanderson. The printed fabrics and wallpapers are made at the brand’s historic factories — some of the machinery is over 100 years old — in Loughborough and Lancaster.
Highgrove by Sanderson launches on May 1, 2025, and will be available online, from Highgrove and through Sanderson’s global distribution network.
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