Blue Zig Zag print from the 'Light of Heart' Wallpaper Collection by Real Living's style editor Sarah Ellison. Photo - Maree Homer.

Black and white Cheetah print from the 'Light of Heart' Wallpaper Collection by Real Living's style editor Sarah Ellison.  Photo - Maree Homer.

Real Living's style editor Sarah Ellison  with her Pink Splatter wallpaper design.  Photo - Maree Homer.

When you hold the role of Style Editor at one of Australia's leading interiors magazines, sourcing stunning prints, textiles, furniture and homewares for all kinds of beautiful editorial spreads, it seems almost inevitable that you might find yourself inspired to create your own range of product at some point.  That's just what Sydney based Sarah Ellison has done - designing her very own range of printed wallpapers, influenced by her busy and highly creative role as Style Editor of Real Living magazine.

Sarah has a background in fashion design and visual merchandising, and has been Style Editor at Real Living for the past three and a half years.  She is the talented stylist responsible for the outstanding magazine covers Real Living have been doing over the past few years, layered with bold pattern and incredible colour.  It has been this role, surrounded by an endless array of patterned wallpaper and prints for various shoots, which has inspired Sarah to try her hand at surface design.

'I knew I wanted to design wallpaper, as I use a lot of them in my interior schemes for the magazine' says Sarah, whose concept for this range has been in development for the past six months.  The process began initially with hundreds of little water-colour paintings, handpainted by Sarah, which were then whittled down to form the basis of her collection. 'I painted a lot, but I found naturally that I was drawn towards certain patterns, such as zig zags and animal prints' she says.  Once the designs had been narrowed down, Sarah worked with a surface designer to create large scale repeating patterns based on her handpainted motifs.  The result is a fresh, painterly collection which draws on Sarah's love of bold, colourful interiors, as well as her previous career in fashion.

Sarah's debut range, entitled 'Light of Heart' is represented by Emily Ziz.  You can view the full collection here - pricing starts at $103 per lineal metre.

Pink Splatter print from the 'Light of Heart' Wallpaper Collection by Real Living's style editor Sarah Ellison.  Photo - Maree Homer.

Blue Geometric print from the 'Light of Heart' Wallpaper Collection by Real Living's style editor Sarah Ellison.  Photo - Maree Homer.