Portaluppi’s Herbarium Wallpaper Launched at Alcova

Nicolò Castellini Baldissera, interior designer and patron of Casa Tosca, has created a wallpaper inspired by the botanical drawings of his great-grandfather, architect Piero Portaluppi. Produced in collaboration with Milan-based Pictalab, founded by Orsola Clerici and Chiara Troglio, the wallpaper revives a lesser-known gem: the winter garden decorations Portaluppi hand-painted for the entrance of the 15th-century Casa degli Atellani on Corso Magenta, purchased by Senator Ettore Conti. Executed in the early 1920s with help from a Brera Academy student, the original work integrated rediscovered frescoes, featuring plants under a large tent, Art Deco geometries, Oriental motifs, and floral trompe l'œil. Pictalab had long worked with Piero Castellini, father of Castellini Baldissera, who lives in a house museum. Clio Cueto of Pictalab told Artribune that Orsola, visiting often, always wanted to recreate that room. The wallpaper debuted at Alcova during Fuorisalone 2022 after a year of development. The team studied original wall elements, deconstructing them to create a refined, customizable wallpaper now on the market. Cueto explained they surveyed, repainted all plants, grass, and drapery by hand, scanned everything, and created digital files for a customizable base. This is their first printed project, not hand-painted as usual, but spaces are still tailored per client based on eight color and texture combinations—four classic, four pop, including ultramarine and ottanio.