From fairy tales to fables, our enduring interest in folklore has manifested itself in waves of revivals, with references to ancient stories and images popping up in everything from films and clothing to the wares we use to decorate our homes. But what lies behind our continued fascination with old narratives and timeless motifs? And what draws makers, designers and artists to pull from them time and time again, to create works for our homes that infuse modern living with a sense of something older and slower.
Romantic visions of woodland flora and fauna screen-printed onto textiles; flirty, humorous reinterpretations of myths on ceramics–these works are not just about nostalgia. In an accelerated world, folklore-inspired interiors answer a deeper yearning for connection: to the handmade, the seasonal, and the natural world.
For makers, drawing on traditional tales and imagery is not merely an aesthetic choice. As craftspeople, their work is already bound to the long lineage of material culture: objects shaped by hand, made to last. But by turning to folklore, they become even more connected to that lineage, extending it through story and symbol. As ceramicist Freyja Lee suggests, folklore, like craft, is a language passed down through generations, ‘whether that’s oral, through songs, or through basket weaving, or through making pots and telling stories on those pots.’
Having attended a Steiner school, Freyja grew up with mythology woven into daily life, and she comes from a family of artists and makers. That she would turn to art to tell stories seemed natural and inevitable. ‘I’m always gonna tell my stories through my hands,’ says Freyja, who specialises in slipware ceramics depicting mythical creatures and folk motifs like sirens, and Apollo and Eros, that are so beautiful you can't imagine eating from them.
‘Stories and myths are a language for interpreting your imagination and your feelings,’ says Freyja. Her fascination lies in particular with feminine archetypes, such as the selkie who sheds her skin to walk on land, or the Handless Maiden, also known as The Girl without Hands, a figure from a Brothers Grimm story whose fate lies in the hands of others. Hybrid creatures are also a source of great inspiration for Freyja. ‘That half-creature, half-woman thing,’ she says, ‘expresses something subliminal that I can’t say in words.’
Freyja’s fascination speaks to a wider revival of folklore among contemporary makers. ‘We’re desperate for that sense of the handmade,’ she says. ‘For connection, because we all live in such isolated, digital worlds.’ Folklore, for her, provides both roots and relevance: a symbolic vocabulary once shared through story, song, or object, now reimagined for modern lives by Freyja in clay. ‘We’re just continuing the tradition,’ she says, ‘but putting our own selves into it.’
This is what partly makes stories endlessly appealing in the first place, that beyond ‘sanctioned’ significance, they can have myriad personal meanings. All the more reason why interiors, our homes, are ideal spaces to have such items, as personal and evocative of personal story as they are as well.
Cornwall-based artist Tabby Booth agrees. Well known for her striking silhouette works that draw from folk art aesthetics and old stories, Tabby also has a deep interest in interiors.
‘That's such a huge passion of mine,’ she says. ‘I really like the idea of being able to make this physical object that's real and textured, and you can hold it and put it on the wall, and it becomes part of someone's home, and part of their family story.’ Tabby studied at Central St Martins but did not immediately become a professional artist, instead starting a children’s art school with her husband. It was when they moved to Cornwall, a place rich in lore and mythology, that she rediscovered her own practice.
Her favourite local legend is the Mermaid of Zennor, a beautiful young woman who occasionally appears at services at the local church in the eponymous village until she and a local young man disappear. ‘There’s an amazing, really old mermaid carving on the side of the pews in the church,’ says Tabby referring to a carving in St Senara's church that commemorates the story. It is no surprise then that mermaids recur throughout her work, alongside a menagerie of animals rendered in playful–and somewhat uncanny–silhouette.
‘It’s to do with character,’ she says, referring to her style and penchant for depicting animals. ‘I feel like there is so much character in animals, and playfulness as well that’s such a big part of my work. I think in terms of choosing art for interiors, I never want something that takes itself too seriously. I really like it when there’s a quirkiness and playfulness and I just think you get that a lot with animals.’
Inspired by folk artists like self-taught African American painter Bill Traylor, Tabby’s own compositions with their slightly exaggerated proportions, balance whimsy with an uncanny strangeness, visually striking reminder that some of folklore’s power lies in its ambivalence.
For embroidery artist Kara Douwma, the link between storytelling, craft, and the home is as equally direct as it is for Tabby. Best known for her embroidered “story stools”, she uses intricate symbolic motifs to weave narratives personal to herself and her clients. ‘I’ve always been interested in folk art, but also in the Dutch Masters where you get this sort of symbolism which means there’s a hidden layer to the things you’re looking at,’ she says. ‘I liked the idea of bringing that into my work but perhaps in a more whimsical way.’
Her ‘garden party’ stool, part of her current collection ‘Haikuoisity’, features a melting ice lolly to represent the passage of time, a nod to vanitas paintings Another piece, ‘Solstice’, explores our desire to stretch time, its imagery referencing the sun, moon, and Stonehenge. Like Tabby and Freyja, Kara is drawn to imagery that attempts to make sense of the human experience..
The choice of object–the footstool–is deliberate: ‘It’s such an underrated piece of furniture,’ says Kara.‘The flat surface is like an artist’s canvas, inviting me to put something on it.’ More than decorative, her footstools invite a ritual of repose. ‘There’s something in the act of sitting down and putting your feet up that tips you into a different frame of mind,’ she reflects. ‘It’s a nice way of inviting conversation as well.’
For Kara, it can only be a good thing that things like craft invite people to have a greater appreciation for where things come from, and sees folklore and a yearning for the natural world as part of that. Whether she is referencing the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White and Rose Red to tell the story of two sisters, or translating the change two former party people have felt since becoming parents with the image of two suns, her work shows how old tales still help us narrate our lives in the most intimate of settings: our homes.
For the makers, folklore allows them to reclaim something timeless in a world dominated by trends. For us, it's a way of enchanting the ordinary. A cushion with a corn dolly motif becomes more than a home accessory. Whether it is a Pierre Frey wallpaper inspired by fairytales or one by Beki Bright depicting apple pickers, a transportive world is created, turning rooms into narrative landscapes that reunite the interior life with the rhythms of the outdoors. For Beki, who was captivated by corn dolls after inheriting a box of them from her grandfather, and inspired to include them in her work, the motif ‘feels like a tribute both to my family and to a nearly forgotten rural art.’
The function of folklore is to connect us to those older stories, while reminding us they are not relics of the part. So when we have pieces of it in our homes, we invite reflection on those traditional narratives and a reverence for craft and artistry old and new.
The home is still the place where private rituals unfold and where we seek comfort and continuity amid change and uncertainty outside. Folklore belongs here because it roots the everyday in something enduring. Its archetypes speak to the same instincts that make us cook from scratch, light candles, or gather around a table: the desire to connect, to belong, to find meaning. Folklore transforms the ordinary into the symbolic and reveals our shared humanity, which is why it will also feel at home with how we live.
Our favourite folklore-inspired pieces to buy now
If transforming your whole house, or an entire room into an enchanting, fairytale inspired space might be a bit out of reach for you, we have rounded up examples of folklore-inspired homewares for your own interiors made by exceptionally talented artists and craftspeople that reference everything from fairytales to seasonal superstitions.
Ceramics:
Shropshire-based ceramicist Prue Piper depicts mythical beings and creatures, with the Green man, a foliate head motif being a favourite. A figure that originated as an architectural detail and evolved somewhat into a folklore character associated with spring and rebirth, the Green Man even made an appearance on King Charles III's Coronation invitations. Adam and Eve also appear repeatedly in her works, both in dishware and sculpture in whimsical design in their… shall we say “natural state” pre-fig leaf.
Textiles, fragrance and homewares designer Kit Kemp collaborated with Wedgwood on a china collection inspired by Kit's love of animals and which also takes loose inspiration from east Asian folklore traditions. Fantastical creations from the designer's vivid imagination, such as make-believe beasts and wonderful bird-like creatures roaming about the gilt edges of this fine bone china.
Textiles
Textile designer Beki Bright, who hails from Staffordshire, is known for her screen-printed home textiles which celebrate the English countryside. Apple pickers, harvest and ploughs are amongst the wonderfully rendered rural motifs that feature on her works, as well as the corn dolly, a hollow figure-shaped straw-work fashioned to house the ‘spirit’ of the corn displaced by harvest. Many corn dollys became associated with towns and cities with the “durham chandelier” a multi-tired corn dolly directly inspiring Beki’s designs.
Aesop's fables once influenced a vintage Spode collection. They also served as the basis for a fabric collection by Sanderson. The toile linen depicts scenes from the popular stories and was taken from a design in a 19th century house in Mulhouse, France, underscoring just how long the tradition of adorning our homes with folklore has endured.
Art
Tabby Booth is a Cornwall-based artist known for her striking folk-tale inspired silhouettes that sit between illustration and traditional folk art. Animals from sleek hounds to slightly ominous birds feature often in her bold work. She designs each piece with interiors in mind, crafting each one to fit a carefully sourced vintage frame.
Ben Edge is an artist who is most well known for being inspired by English folk culture and custom. The London-based artist spent his childhood between east London and Kent, which made him interested in the similarities and difference between rural and urban life. A significant voice in the current folklore revivial, Ben's slightly surreal paintings often feature iconic folklore landmarks such as the Cerne Giant in Dorset, as well as depictions of folk celebrations that draw communities together.
Silverware artist Bryony Knox, who has created pieces for HRH Princess Anne and Winchester Cathedral, works with repousse and chasing two now-endangered ancient craft techniques to create her pieces such as this playing card box. Jack be Nimble is an old nursery rhyme and Jack is depicted on the box's gilted facade, leaping over a candlestick as the rhyme goes.
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