08/05/2025
Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying "good artists copy, great artists steal". This quote suggests that copying is a necessary starting point for artistic development, while stealing involves taking inspiration and transforming it into something uniquely original…
At the beginning of every project I search for my “inspiration image” which can be anything from a restaurant interior to a piece of furniture or art. Once I find this piece of the puzzle it becomes my lodestone, pulling the remaining pieces of the design together.
In this post there are 3 images; the inspiration, the end result, and the before.
The inspiration was, PS156 in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown. A multi-purpose space consisting of a restaurant-café, bar and co-working space in a building that had stood derelict since the 1960s.
When I found this place I immediately wanted to attempt something similar in the UK. I loved the simplicity of the pastel tiles and how they contrasted with the pastel pink of the distressed wall.
Sourcing similar tiles was straightforward, creating the distressed wall finish not so much. I ended up mixing 4 different shades of my base coat colour and applying with a variety of tools; a trowel, a small block of wood, a scrunched up newspaper and a sponge. I then mixed the base coat colour with varnish and rolled it over the wall to bind all the colours and textures together.
Let me know how you tap into inspiration when it comes to your creative process and as always how you like the end result.
