Post #777412 by Trader Tom on Sun, Jul 2, 2017 3:03 AM

You may have noticed this banana leaf wallpaper is popping up more frequently.

Is this a good thing?

Is it Tiki-friendly or a creeping invasive species like Kudzu vine that must be stamped out?

I don't know how to feel about it...

It seems like I am seeing this wallpaper everywhere.

Lono on Hollywood Blvd has it.

There are several walls of it in the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach. You don't notice it as much after Bamboo Ben worked his wizardry, but it's there...

And Absolute Vodka paired it with copper barware for their Elyx campaign.

I actually sat down to research this wallpaper and after 5 minutes of intense internet scrutiny, this is what I found:

http://thewellmadehome.com/martinique/

"C.W. Stockwell is the company behind the iconic banana leaf design wallpaper “Martinique”. The Stockwell company developed the design in 1941 after they directed the designer Albert Stockdale to create a large banana leaf design that was inspired by a trip to the tropical jungles of Central America. Albert Stockdale was an incredibly famous botanical illustrator at that time. His work is at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA.

Don Loper, a known designer in the 40s, who was remodeling the Beverly Hills Hotel at that time, visited the Stockwell offices where the banana leaf design was installed and conceived his idea for the Beverly Hills Hotel because of that installation.

For the more than fifty years that this pattern has been in the Stockwell line, and while there have been many opportunities to license the design, it has always been the Stockwell position to remain its sole producer."

So, apparently it has a certain cachet among designers.

I suppose that if someone were to accuse you of indulging in "tacky Tiki" that you could point to the long and storied history of this wallpaper and argue that it is, in fact, tacky proof because of its design history.

But what do you guys think?

Is it too Golden Girls or is it cool, hip and trendy?