First look at Farrow & Ball and Liberty's decorative partnership, the perfect style pair

There are fewer brands more Livingetc than Farrow & Ball and Liberty. Both are heritage British names with a keen eye trained on modern aesthetics, both produce the most enticing colours or homeware of the moment, and both just feel nice to shop at, safe in the knowledge that you’re in good hands, being looked after and offered the very best in contemporary design. So when we heard they were partnering up to create a hand-selected collection of paints and complementary fabrics, we couldn’t have been more excited to find out exactly how it would be informing our decorative intent for 2022.

The perfect edit

The edit features 15 shades from the Farrow & Ball Archive collection (paints that are no longer on the main colour card, but still available for those in the know to ask for) and complementary fabrics from Liberty's The Modern Collector range. Anyone who has spent time with the experts at either brand knows that they know what they’re talking about – Farrow & Ball’s colour curator Joa Studholme is a regular on this site, imparting palette-pairing wisdom with aplomb, while the interiors buying manager at Liberty, Bryony Sheridan, is one of the first people our editor speaks to when he needs home accessories advice. So this carefully considered and beautiful curation comes from people with a real understanding of how colour works – and how homes can come alive when it’s used well.

Each of the 15 colours in this edit comes in a tester- pot tin decorated with its corresponding fabric, making for a collectable chance to rediscover old favourites in new and dynamic ways. 

What's so inspiring about this collaboration is the way the prints and paints work so well together. Combinations you might not have thought of suddenly feel exactly right for now. Take the verdant shade of Suffield Green 77, seen here on the wall of this light, bright living room. It's a heritage hue, often seen on the pre-war colour charts of Farrow and Ball, but it comes alive when placed next to the Wiltshire Blossom fabric, which is whimsical and playful and brings out the softer tones of the green.

Brimming with rich pigments, Smoked Trout isn't a world away from Farrow & Ball's modern classic Jitney. Its mushroom tones, when paired with LIberty's Persian Voyage fabric, soften and become enriched.

Or see how Sloe Blue, a black-based blue from Farrow and Ball's archive, is lightened up by the paler tones in Liberty's Felix Raison fabric.

What this partnership does is allows us to think about decor in new ways, giving us licence to reinvent older colours ready for contemporary interiors.

Need to know

The archival Farrow & Ball hues chosen for the edit span across darks, mids and brights within each colour range, in a selection that captures Farrow & Ball and Liberty London’s shared passion for forward-looking design with heritage roots. Sample pots are available from farrow-ball.com, Farrow & Ball showrooms and stockists, and at Liberty.