Wall treatments with finishes ranging from low-VOC paints that neutralize indoor odours to light-emitting coverings, interior designers are spoiled for options when it comes to walls.  By Elsa Lam

From the high-tech to the handmade, endless decorative possibilities recreate the wall as a canvas. Digital printing enables young studios like Sweden’s Smik to specialize in high-impact, room-sized patterns, and Vancouver’s Rollout to develop an entire collection that translates artists’ edgy visions. Similar technology creates wall decals, graphic elements applied like stickers over existing wallpaper.

In handcrafted wall coverings, stitched pieces or richly textured surfaces assembled from shells, metal leaf or felted wool build up a 3-D effect out of more traditional elements. Meanwhile, natural materials such as grasscloth and rice paper now come in sturdy versions that rival the durability of vinyl.

Read the full story in the print edition of our June 2009 issue

Above: Marco Dieckmann blew his entire budget renovating his warehouse loft in the old harbour of Quebec City. Instead of hanging art on the kitchen wall, the Cirque du Soleil performer elected for an affordable alternative: wallpaper. Dieckmann was inspired by artist Andrea Pössnicker’s limited edition rolls, which he found at her Berlin boutique (pvanb.com). He and his girlfriend chose the same pattern in grey and red panels, arranging them along a white wall. “We wanted to break it down and make it something different,” he explains. The graphic composition forms a stunning counterpoint to the loft’s heritage stone walls, and makes an artistic statement without costing a fortune: “It was my first experience working with wallpaper, and it won’t be the last.”