Cartoons aren’t just for kids’ rooms – bring some playful joy to your interiors with Mickey Mouse and co

HIGHLIGHT

Interior designer Simone Suss of Studio Suss thinks that the vogue for more humour and playfulness is aligned with the rise of social media as a source of interiors inspiration.

“We’re exposed to so many more images than we used to be, and the things that get shared tend to feature bright colours and something memorable. No one’s going to Instagram a minimalist interior.” Cartoon imagery is “just part of the mix,” she adds. “Anything goes. If it’s done well and has good production values, why not?”

Suss’s work shows how it’s possible to incorporate graphic, light-hearted elements in a home without it looking childish. Keeping the walls white throughout creates a gallery-like space against which virtually anything can take on an artistic appearance.

Suss has done this in her own home, which features a mix of colourful art and objects, ranging from a Plexiglas table full of pink sand by Yves Klein to Italian furniture firm Magis’s Paradise Tree coat rack (a piece designed for children that manages to look like a pop-art sculpture in her black-and-white tiled hallway).

One north London client “was very into colour and pattern but felt that she’d slightly overdone it in her previous house. She needed us to make it a bit more restrained,” says Suss.

The homeowner loved her furniture ­designed by artist Richard Woods, which features his signature cartoonish wood-grain print, so Suss created a more monochrome environment. This would show off these and other quirky artworks, incorporating a black and white timber-grain wallpaper that had echoes of the furniture, carrying the theme through.