Delphine

The original sources of inspiration for our Florentine Cascade series are exquisite Florentine-style decorative papers. With vibrant colours and fancy curlicues, we have always wanted this kind of beauty for a Paperblanks cover design.

Our wish came true when we got ahold of a book of Spanish decorative designs. Published in the 1890s in Germany, this book contains a collection of over 100 ornamental plates for decorating walls, fabrics and pottery. In the design adapted for our Florentine Cascade series, you will find the same kind of vividly stylized scrolls and climbing vines that characterize the style largely associated with Tuscany and its capital, Florence.

It is no coincidence that decorative papers featuring Florentine patterns and the Spanish design of our cover share much of the same aesthetic quality. Today the term “Florentine-style” is used to describe a 19th-century interpretation of Renaissance-era artistic trends, a style that originated in Florence and was reproduced throughout Europe.

The Renaissance was a period of shifts and changes in attitudes, and one of these changes was the transformation of the very idea of the garden. Previously used mainly for growing produce, many Italian gardens took on an ornamental character with the arrival of Renaissance sensibilities. One principal aspect of a garden like this was an abundance of climbing plants. As our cover design shows, this became a prominent motif in the visual style of the Renaissance.

Despite these cultural influences, one needn’t already be a fan of the Florentine style to appreciate the extravagance of the densely woven arabesques and vines of this Delphine cover design. As for the luscious blue of its background, no colour would provide a more suitable match for this design than the dazzling shade suggestive of the Mediterranean Sea.