A closer look at the nostalgia, botanical inspiration, and personal stories woven into Gabriela Dachin’s wallpaper designs for Artza & Co.
Some wallpaper feels like it has always belonged in the room. Gabriela Dachin wallpaper has that quality: soft and botanical, with a romance that never feels forced, the kind of pattern that makes a space feel collected over time instead of decorated all at once.
A surface designer and illustrator, Gabriela draws her florals by hand, and her work lives in the space between traditional and modern. You can see it in Irene, with its delicate vintage florals, and in Folgia, with its lush botanical motifs.
To celebrate her designs on Artza & Co., we asked Gabriela about her process, her influences, and what she hopes someone feels when they walk into a room wrapped in her wallpaper. Much like our conversation with fellow Artza artist Gabrielle de Winter, her answers are thoughtful and full of the small details that make a home feel like yours.
Read on for a closer look at the process, the inspiration, and the stories behind the patterns.
On Craft & Creative Process
What does a typical day in your creative process look like, from first sketch to finished wallpaper?
To be honest, I don’t have a typical day, my creative process is chaotic. I have a part-time job in graphic design that starts at 7 a.m. After work, I move on to house chores, then spend a little time with family at lunch.
Once everything else is taken care of, usually in the evening, I start my research: gathering inspiration, sketching, drawing, painting. Depending on the stage I am at that moment. I work in batches. First a lot of drawing and creating motifs, and once I have enough motifs, I start building them into patterns in Adobe Illustrator.
How do you know when a pattern is finished? Is it instinct, or something more tangible?
It’s a combination of both. There are technical things I check, the repeat needs to work, the colours need to sit together, and there shouldn’t be any distracting gaps or awkward joins. With a scattered pattern especially, I’m looking to close all the “rivers” so the eye doesn’t catch on anything in odd places.
But ultimately, there’s a point where I know I should stop. If I keep adjusting a pattern past that point, I often make it less interesting rather than better. A finished pattern still needs a little imperfection and character.
Really, though, a pattern is finished when the client’s story begins.
What led you to pursue wallpaper design and artistry? Where did you get your “start”?
I studied interior design, and in my second year I took a module called Surface Design. At the time, I had no idea what surface pattern design even meant, so I started researching it and ended up connecting it to my childhood memories. I remember my grandparents’ house had walls painted with patterned paint rollers. At the time I wasn’t impressed as a child, but now it’s a lovely memory.
The Style Behind Gabriela Dachin Wallpaper
Your work feels so distinct. How would you describe your personal style in your own words?
I’d describe it as nostalgic, botanical and quietly romantic, with a strong connection to traditional textiles and interiors. I’m drawn to things that feel collected rather than overly designed. Old botanical illustrations, heritage fabrics, English gardens, vintage children’s textiles, architectural details, and the slightly imperfect quality of something made by hand.
I owe a lot to William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. That belief in pattern as something rooted in nature and made with real craftsmanship, rather than purely decorative. There’s also a strong thread of English literary nostalgia running through my work: the gentle romance of Jane Austen’s world, and the tender, detailed botanical charm of Beatrix Potter’s illustrations. Both feel very connected to the mood I’m chasing, quietly told stories, close observation of the natural world, and a sense of a slower, more considered way of life.
I like combining that sense of history with a cleaner, more contemporary way of arranging pattern. I want my designs to feel timeless rather than tied too closely to one particular trend.
Has your style changed or evolved over time? Or have you always been drawn to the same kinds of patterns?
It’s definitely evolved. I think I’ve become much more confident about what I’m naturally drawn to.
Earlier on, I was more influenced by what I thought a design should look like. Over time, I’ve become more interested in developing a visual language that feels genuinely mine.
The themes have probably always been there. Nature, nostalgia, femininity, vintage references...but the way I interpret them has become more refined and intentional.
On Meaning & the Home
What do you hope someone feels the first time they walk into a room with your wallpaper?
I’d love for them to feel that the wallpaper is the missing piece of the whole story. Most importantly, I want it to make a room feel more personal and lived-in, as though the pattern belongs there, something that makes the atmosphere pleasant and helps create new memories that last.
If someone is choosing wallpaper for the first time, what advice would you give, not just practically, but emotionally?
Choose something you genuinely enjoy looking at, rather than something just because it’s currently popular. Think about how you want the room to make you feel when you’re actually living in it: calm? cosy? playful? romantic? energising?
Wallpaper is quite a commitment, but that’s also what makes it special. You don’t necessarily need to choose the safest option. If a pattern makes you feel something when you see it, that’s worth paying attention to.
In your opinion, what makes a space feel layered and meaningful instead of just styled?
I think it comes from having things that have a real connection to you, rather than choosing everything simply because it looks good together. A room becomes interesting when there are different layers, old and new, handmade and contemporary, things you’ve collected, photographs, books, artwork, textiles and objects with a story behind them. A room that lets you be creative, or relaxed, or dream a little, a room that makes you feel at home, your home.
Perfectly matched rooms can be beautiful, but personally, I’m much more drawn to spaces that feel as though they’ve evolved naturally over time.
On Reflection & Perspective
What inspires you lately, in this current season of your life?
Lately I’ve been very inspired by nostalgia, the idea of creating things that feel as though they could belong to another generation. I find myself looking at old children’s books, vintage textiles, botanical studies, gardens, old houses and photographs from the past. Beatrix Potter’s world comes to mind often, and so does the William Morris archive. That same instinct to find pattern in the hedgerow rather than invent it from nothing.
I’m also drawn to objects with a sense of history and touch, vintage lace and doilies, velvet and silk ribbon, natural materials, old dishes and picture frames passed down through families. There’s something about their worn, handled quality that I try to carry into my patterns. I’m especially drawn to those small, ordinary details that can bring back a feeling or a memory.
I think I’m becoming less interested in creating something that simply looks beautiful, and more interested in creating something with a real sense of place and time.
If your work could say one thing to the homes it lives in, what would you want it to be?
I think it would be: make yourself at home, and start making memories.
I want my work to encourage people to create spaces that feel personal, comfortable and full of things they love, the kind of thing that could be left from generation to generation, the way a well-loved pattern often is. Homes don’t need to be perfect; they should reflect the people who live in them, hold their memories, and give them a sense of belonging. Especially today, with so much noise around us, the most important thing is to feel safe, relaxed, and to have a space where you can recharge.
Make Yourself at Home, and Start Making Memories
Gabriela’s wallpaper never asks a room to be perfect, but asks it to be yours. Grounded in old botanical illustrations, heritage fabrics, and English gardens, her patterns give a space the comfort of another time valuing hearth and heart.
What stays with me most is her reminder that a pattern is finished when the client’s story begins. The wallpaper is only the first layer. The keepsakes, the family treasures, and the unique memories that settle in over time are what make a room: home.
If you’re drawn to vintage botanical wallpaper with a story behind it, explore the full collection of Gabriela Dachin wallpaper on Artza, including Irene and Folgia.
Discover more inspiring patterns on Artza.
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