Modern Heritage

An artful new collaboration from Gregorious Pineo and decorative artist Nadine Weatherstone

Above Image: The artist Nadine Weatherstone.

By Anh-Minh Le

Involving the techniques of gilding, marbleizing, and wood graining, the ancient art form of decorative painting continues to thrive thanks to masters like Nadine Weatherstone. For decades, the London native has embraced time-honored methods to create singular hospitality and residential installations, transforming walls into highly textural works of art. In 2013, Weatherstone shifted focus, launching her namesake atelier with an exclusive wallcovering collection with Gregorius Pineo. The exquisite designs—which now total 24—are all handcrafted with techniques that employ gesso, plaster, gilding, inks and glazes. The influence of the natural world on her work can be seen (and felt) in numerous motifs—from Rake, released a decade ago, to Botani, one of her latest achievements.

Weatherstone with Gregorius Pineo creative director and CEO George Massar.

How did your collaboration with Gregorius Pineo come about?

I had been in the decorative arts field for about 25 years. Through this time, I had developed a gesso product that’s based on an old formulation for water gilding. It’s been around for centuries, since the days of Louis XIV. I started playing around with different types of fabric bases, creating small samples. At the time, I was working with Kelly Wearstler. I presented the samples to Kelly, who had the perfect project for them: wrapping them on one-of-a-kind objects called the Head Trip sculptures.

This caught Rocky LaFleur’s distinctive eye. He was an incredible person and had a gift for putting people together. He then introduced me to George Massar and Doug Kinzley, the owners of Gregorius Pineo. They wanted to bring out a new handcrafted texture line. We launched with three designs: Porcelain, Strata and Alchemy.

From top left: From the new collection, Botani in an array of earthy colorways, the Tyndall range, Tyndall in Greige, and Botani in Whisper.

You recently launched two new designs: Botani and Tyndall. The inspiration for Botani was two disparate things: the botanical motif of banyan trees, and a sheer white Valentino dress with white floral embroidery. How did you bring fashion and nature together?

The dress was the spark. I saw the model’s skin underneath the translucent material and thought, “I could create something interesting here.” I had to find a translucent paper that would work, and also figure out the color glazes that sit underneath it. There was lots of testing—many different types of paper. The floral design on the dress didn’t appeal to me as I wanted to create a vine-like effect—a continuous design. The roots of the banyan tree came to mind. I drew the outline of the design first, then went back into the interior of the design to add a wood-grain effect.

Your process for achieving various effects—whether you’re working directly on a wall or handcrafting wallpaper—is it the same?

Yes—and wallpaper is actually so much easier. Before, I had many challenges, like installing art on 25-foot ceilings and climbing scaffolds. When you’re working on a wall, it’s vertical, right? So gravity is working against you. Now I’m working on a 16- or 20-foot long table—a flat surface—which is fantastic. You can control so much more.

Weatherstone at work in her atelier.

What is the process for making Botani?

It starts with a panel of paper laid on the table. We hand-glaze the panel, then glue the translucent paper to that panel, slightly crinkling it to create very fine, horizontal creasing. My hand-drawn designs are translated into 14-foot silk screens. The silk screen wants a flat surface. When we’re running over it with the squeegee, it skips and misses small sections where the fine creases are, making every panel slightly different. Obviously the color has to be perfect, but it also has to have that hand-done feeling.

Modern Heritage

By Anh-Minh Le

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