The Calico collection is grounded in the combined vision of creative and life-partners Rachel Mosler and Nick Cope. Mosler, raised in pastoral idyll in a beam house on Martha’s Vineyard, was always drawn to the natural world, developing a love of organic materials, improvisational processes and DIY culture. After achieving a bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2003, followed by a Master of Professional Studies from the School of Visual Arts in 2008, she began practicing as a Creative Arts Therapist in Psychiatry. Throughout her studies and vocational path, Mosler continued to pursue personal art projects, exhibiting in New York, Philadelphia, North Carolina and Paris.

Nick Cope, a graduate of Gallatin School at New York University, is the driving force behind Calico Wallpaper’s technological advancements. Studies in photography and digital imaging offered an immersion into commercial image production, and later, interior design. In 2011, Nick founded Dark Green, a luxury residential firm. He has also collaborated on several custom commercial projects with well-known contemporary fashion labels including Opening Ceremony and Paul Smith.

Calico Wallpaper came into being by chance. In 2012, when Hurricane Sandy hit New York, the couple was stranded without electricity in their home and studio space in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood. In the days that the city was out of action, Mosler spent time experimenting with marbling paper, the ancient and quixotic process of making aqueous paper designs. With his entrepreneurial spirit, Cope envisioned how such one-off applications could be applied writ large to interior spaces and began developing techniques for enlarging the works’ scale without compromising its artisanal, sui generis quality.

Calico Wallpaper is an influential new decorative design company in its ethos of merging ancient artisanal processes with new technologies, allowing the team to perfect the possibilities offered by gradients, metallic and woven natural fibers. The company’s ability to shrink or enlarge and custom-fit its unique and non-repeating patterns is transformative when applied to interior projects both large and small and can be seen in the entire Calico collection.

The firm’s debut at the Manhattan Architectural Digest Home Design Show was an instant success, resonating with architects and designers who had always sought new alternatives in wall treatments. The company has since been featured in numerous publications, including Architectural Digest, Vogue and Travel and Leisure making the Calico collection a recognizable entity.