About

ABOUT KATE SWINSON

Kate Swinson is a Sydney local artist, who began her work designing homewares in Indonesia. Here, she ignited a love of wallpaper and fabrics, merging her own knowledge of illustrations with the world of textiles and interior design. 

Kate retains a deep belief in what she calls “healthy buildings,” developing spaces that provide a beneficial beauty, encouraging serenity and happiness and a feeling of connectedness to the natural world.

Rather than digital design, she offers personality and a sense of past time craftsmanship through analog, hand drawn fabrics and wallpaper. 

“There’s nothing in-between the making and the made. Between the subject and myself, it is immediate, there is no digital interference between two organic things. Mistakes become part of the design, as they do in the flowers, in the leaves, in the trees and the soil”. - KS

Standing in a Papered Room, surrounded by Swinson’s designs, her imagery tells a story of feeling. Her works attempt to mimic the sensations of being completed enveloped by nature, and with this, a true sense of calm, and rememberance of nature’s remarkable beauty.

    • SMH - True Blue by Georgie Gordon, August 2021

    • SMH - The New Neutrals by Georgie Gordon, February 2021

    • SMH 'The Source', - Georgie Gordon

    • Local design Hero. House & Garden.

    • Stellar living by Neil Whittaker.

    • Vogue Australia

    • Home Beautiful: Australiana style

    • Stellar: Floral tribute by Neale Whitaker

    • Wonderground

    • Inside out. Three of a kind - Louisa Bathgate

    • Inside out. Australiana - Jono Fleming

    • SMH The Source - Georgie Gordon

    • The Interiors Addict. Our top ten names in Australian wallpaper.

    • Aimee Tarulli Style collective

    • Country Style. August edition.

    • The Life Style Edit. Profile.

    • SMH. The Source by Alexia Biggs.

    • House and Garden. September issue

    • Salon des refuses finalist

    • Front/Centre by DENFAIR

    • 2018 Style Awards, House and Garden

    • HOME:MADE exhibition, DESIGN Canberra

    • At Home: Modern Australian Design exhibition, curated by David Clark at Old Government House

    • Australian Design Centre WORKSHOPPED19 exhibition

ORIGINS

Some time ago now, I drew little blue biro birds on my walls.

A little kookaburra hidden here, a little rosella to be found over there. I sketched leaves cascading down my hallway and scribble stars upon my roof

So I sowed the seeds for these future organic designs, and they eventually grew into the Papered Room.

Kate x

SUSTAINABILITY

All of the wallpaper and fabrics are:

  • designed and printed in Sydney, using non-toxic water based inks

  • 100% recyclable

  • made to order to minimise wastage

The core philosophy of the business is to not follow any trends and cycles, but instead make beautiful quality and sustainable designs that can last a lifetime and more - ‘an antithesis to the throw-away society’.

We are aways looking for ways to be more sustainable, it is a constant evolution.

“Kate has combined a love of nature with a passion for creating environmental and ethically responsible surface design that explores our relationship with the unique Australian landscape whilst treading ever so lightly on our planet. She has turned her back on mass production, preferring small intimate production. Her upholstered artisan furniture pieces invite the client to connect and become part of a process of sustainability and ‘slow design’.”

— Australian Design Centre