Barneby Gates is a UK based wallpaper and fabric studio; the brainchild of lifelong friends, Vanessa Barneby and Alice Gates. We’re known for our diverse range of prints, combining traditional techniques and historical reference with a fresh, contemporary twist. From initial sketch to creating the colour palette, from selecting printing methods to styling shoots, Alice and Vanessa work closely together on each collection from start to finish. We carry stock and fulfil orders ourselves, enabling us to offer an extremely personal service to our global client base.
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About us
Our Products
Hand-drawn, designed and proudly printed in England, our collection includes wallpaper by the roll, fabric by the meter and a range of beautifully crafted cushions hand-sewn in the UK. We also supply our own brand adhesive which we strongly recommend using with our papers. Using hand-mixed, low VOC dyes to create one-off colours, our papers and fabrics are produced from well-managed, sustainable sources, traditionally printed in English factories using age-old rotary and flat-bed printing methods.
Collaborate
We love working with brands we admire on collaborative projects. These include: a bespoke wallpaper for fashion brand Rag & Bone; developing a wallpaper for SHOWstudio using artwork by Julie Verhoeven; working with designer Tabitha Webb taking her prints from runway to wall; two bespoke fabrics for Sofa.com; our prints on porcelain tiles with Parkside Tiles; and two pretty botanical designs with floral stylist Willow Crossley for wallpaper and fabric. Our latest collaboration with Burleigh pottery is out now – see below for more info…
Our Story
Barneby Gates was established in 2009 by childhood friends, Vanessa Barneby and Alice Gates, whose lives have interwoven since the age of ten. After graduating together from Edinburgh University, their careers took them separate ways.
Vanessa spent five years at House & Garden magazine before taking the role as Living Editor at British Vogue, where predicting trends in design, styling shoots and examining the correlation between fashion and interiors were all part of the job.
Alice studied figurative painting in Italy before achieving an MA at the City & Guilds of London Art School. She went on to collaborate with a number of fashion brands, designing prints for ready-to-wear collections.
In 2009 the stars realigned, and the girls decided to pool their experience and set up a print design studio, first from a small space in West London and now based in Wiltshire’s Vale of Pewsey. Combining Vanessa’s stylist’s eye and Alice’s painterly touch, their range of idiosyncratically English designs give classical ideas a contemporary edge using pops of colour, subtle metallic finishes and occasionally a wry touch of humour.
The BG headquarters is a working studio and can only be visited by appointment. Barneby Gates supply to both retail and trade customers, working with Interior Designers and trade showrooms worldwide. Stock of the complete collection of wallpaper, fabric and cushions is held in Wiltshire from where all orders are fulfilled.
Collaborators
Our latest collaboration with heritage English pottery Burleigh launched in Autumn 2023 and was a dream come true – this is a brand we’ve always admired and loved collecting. Together we created two timeless wallpapers ~ Asiatic Pheasant & Calico ~ reinterpretations of the original Burleigh designs from 1862 and 1968 respectively – and both staples on English Kitchen dressers across the country! You can find these two designs in the ‘Wallpapers’ section of the website.
Sustainability
Our wallpapers are printed on environmentally accredited paper using non-toxic organic pigments bound with acrylic and vinyl co-polymers, calcium carbonate fillers and waxes. Our wallpapers demonstrate the highest possible standards currently required for indoor air quality, with VOC tests confirming extremely low emission levels.
The wallpaper base is exclusively purchased from FSC certified suppliers and a ‘chain of custody’ is maintained throughout the manufacturing process. Chain of custody is the path taken by raw materials from the forest to the customer, through all stages of processing, transportation and distribution. The concept ensures that all wood and paper products are certified at each stage of manufacture, providing a means by which traceability and identification is maintained at the highest environmental level.
Please rest assured that we are doing our utmost to keep our carbon footprint at a minimum, and continue to strive to improve ourselves in this department.