Whilst studying for an MA in Design for Textile Futures at Central St Martins, the wallpaper company Graham and Brown, set a competition brief 'To design a collection of innovative wallpapers with a focus on sustainability'.

Jo won first prize with a collection of three wallpaper designs based around the Bittern, a bird who's reedbed habitat is seriously under threat from rising sea levels. 

Jo used mainly pen and ink to draw the birds in order to give a handcrafted feel to the collection.  The colour palette was based on the browns of the Bitterns themselves.  Bitterns are masters of disguise, shrinking to ball shapes or extending their necks to hide in the reeds so the designs combine these two elements.

Buy any of these wallpapers now at: grahamandbrown.com

The wallpaper was on show as part of an exhibition 'Eco Home' which closed in Feb 2010 at the Geffrye Museum. This exhibition hoped 'to address, without preaching, widespread and increasing concerns about ecology and the state of the planet and how this links to our homes and the way we use, decorate and inhabit them.'

A roll of the Bittern Wallpaper, along with a recorded interview with me has been taken into the archives at The Geffrye Museum as an example of the eco movement in design.



The Wallpaper is also featured in the book '1000 NEW ECO DESIGNS and where to find them'