Juju Papers
Juju Papers
Portland, OR
Juju Papers is a wallpaper and tile studio located in Portland, Oregon. Founded by Avery Thatcher in 2010, we have taken great care to develop a line of wallpapers that are beautifully crafted, and that have as light of an impact on our natural environment as possible. Primarily inspired by mark making, folk art, and the passage of time, our designs suggest the simplicity of an elegant old-fashioned signature, or the impossibly perfect collection of driftwood and sea glass on the shore.
Most people have objects in their home that they associate with a sort of uncommon power - the coffee mug that you love to reach for every morning, the wool sweater that you can't seem to get rid of even though you long ago lost the privilege of wearing in public, the toddler's beloved blanket, treasured family heirlooms. They are touched with a bit of our own personal magic. This is the sentiment that we intend to bring to the home with our spirited prints.
Project Types
Commercial
Residential
Impact Areas
Minority/Women Owned Business
“After obtaining a BS in Art, Avery Thatcher moved to Portland in 2001 in order to pursue the dream of cheap rent, a thriving underground music scene, and the affordability to create art and allow for travel: in Africa, Asia, and South America. During this time she worked in the art departments of such Portland creative outfits as Laika, Michael Curry Design, and Murmur Creative. Inspired aesthetically by her travels and utilizing the craftsmanship attained in her professional career, she founded Juju Papers in 2010. Thatcher’s signature design style combines the informal look of outsider art with an elegant and approachable touch, all marked by sophisticated craftsmanship and unparalleled quality.”
Featured Projects
High Dive
High Dive, Juju Papers new designs are all about the sweeping gesture, generous scale and lavish precious-metal colorways.
“High Dive is bold, risky,” owner and designer Avery Thatcher suggests.
From an exotic cannabis landscape to an over-the-top op art maze, these patterns express surprise, sensuality and daring. Thatcher is known
for glamming up familiar motifs by portraying them in lush metallic inks; new color Champagne, an effervescent, semi transparent silver-gold, joins the Juju Papers palette.
Fruit Salad
Fruit Salad, her first handmade tile series, in kaleidoscopic color, calls for a serendipitous installation method. Thatcher, who had experience installing tile prior to making her name as a wallpaper designer, wanted to bring the complexity and ornamentation of a handmade mosaic into a room without requiring a complicated installation. Tile installers accustomed to natural stone will recognize her installation technique, which entails selecting and spontaneously rotating each tile’s placement in turn.
“Tile contours traditionally tend to be symmetrical. I wanted to flip the script and create a design that felt more experimental,” Thatcher notes. “The impromptu installation results in a truly random, scattered, colorful pattern; the warmth of a Persian rug combined with the pigment richness and vibrancy of a Morris Lewis painting.”
Graffito
Graffito, is simultaneously whimsical and glamorous, featuring abstract runes, signs and symbols rendered in sumptuous metallic colors.
Thatcher notes, “Graffito explores the simple power of mark-making, tracing all the way back to those who scratched pictograms on walls, caves and bones. The patterns in the collection are united by their glyphic, graphic qualities: gestural, non-fussy abstractions of such varied inspirations as handwriting, a star-lit sky or masonry wall.”
Thatcher’s signature impact and surprise comes from the collision of humble line drawings with her deluxe metallic inks. The glossy gold, gunmetal and diamond finishes add a layer of elegance to the understated imagery.
