Winter Wheat Wallpaper in Winnetka
Photo by Julie Matthei
Happy Halloween! I got my treat early when Ellen King, founder of Hewn Bread, an artisanal bakery on Chicago’s North Shore, opened a new Hewn location in Winnetka, IL, and installed our wallpaper pattern, Winter Wheat, front and center!
Photo by Alexandra Rowley
The inspiration for Winter Wheat, and our related print, Turkey Red, came from King herself. Several years ago I heard King, a renowned baker and author of the acclaimed cookbook, Heritage Baking, speak on Brian Hogan Stewart’s cookbook podcast, Salt + Spine. I was riveted by her explanation of heritage grains, grains grown from seeds that pre-date modern agro-industrial breeding and hybridization practices. King shared that heritage grains typically have high nutritional value and low gluten-content as well as inherent pest resistance and suitability for regenerative agriculture. These revelations got my creative gears spinning and planted the seeds for my heritage grain inspired-Winter Wheat pattern and Turkey Red linocut print.
To express my gratitude to King, I sent her a Turkey Red print (and a fan letter!). To my delight, King responded and invited me to visit her Hewn Bread Evanston location for a tour of the bakery. I took her up on the invitation and got to see King, a true polymath, at work. She speaks as eloquently about soil biodiversity as she does about French pastry technique, she can repair an oven, and her bread is, per Food & Wine, "the region's most inspiring"!
Photos by Julie Matthei
I admire King as both a leader in the sustainable food movement and master of her craft, and I'm over the moon that she selected Winter Wheat for Hewn's newest location. In addition, it's exciting for me, as a designer, to see a Mazy Path pattern in a commercial space. The Hewn installation shows the versatility of our patterns and the role they can play in helping to tell the story of a business. The Hewn project is also a reminder that we offer commercial grounds for high traffic environments, including vinyl-free, Type II papers, on a custom basis (although King ultimately selected our standard clay-coated paper ground for her interior). If you’re planning a commercial project and would like to use Mazy Path wallpaper, please be in touch!
And if you find yourself in Winnetka (or Evanston or Libertyville) stop by Hewn Bread to see and taste all things Winter Wheat!