Farrow & Ball is pleased to announce the launch of Iconic Spaces, a new global design competition for 2026 that celebrates the positive power of colour.
Iconic Spaces invites design enthusiasts to showcase how they’ve used Farrow & Ball paint and paper to craft spaces that delight and inspire. The competition will honour outstanding designs in five categories: Best Outdoor Space, Best Front Door, Best use of Signature Palette, Best use of an Archive colour and Best use of Wallpaper. Winners from each category will be entered into the running for the prestigious title of Iconic Space 2026.
Entries will be judged by an esteemed panel of experts at Farrow & Ball: Joa Studholme (Colour Curator), Patrick O’Donnell (International Brand Ambassador), Charlotte Cosby (Creative Director) and Gareth Hayfield (Head of Research and Development).
Farrow & Ball Handcrafted Paint and Wallpaper
The competition will take place on farrow-ball.com, with participants asked to submit their entries online. Open to all – from emerging interior designers to passionate DIY decorators – Iconic Spaces is a celebration of personal style and creativity.
The winning Iconic Space 2026 will be professionally photographed and filmed, with judges presenting the award in person. Farrow & Ball will also feature the space across its social media platforms to inspire other colour and design enthusiasts.
About Farrow & Ball
Farrow & Ball has been based in Dorset, England, since 1946. To this day, the brand remains dedicated to handcrafting richly pigmented paints and unique wallpapers using only the finest ingredients.
The result is a directional palette of paint colours with an extraordinary response to light and artisanal wallpapers with a tactile finish, achieved by printing paint on paper. Together, they transform homes of all kinds, inside and out, all over the world.
From ultra-matt, durable Dead Flat to mould-protected Modern Emulsion best for kitchens and bathrooms, and even choices for exteriors or historic properties, each high-performance finish is crafted with a precise balance of pigments and a low-VOC water base. This creates an extraordinary depth of colour and an unrivalled finish.
It’s great to see Farrow & Ball highlighting not just paint but also the creative potential of wallpaper in shaping truly memorable spaces. Their approach of printing paint onto paper gives the wallpaper a depth and tactility that feels architectural rather than purely decorative. I’m especially excited to see how entrants use wallpaper in unexpected ways — whether to define a small nook, elevate a hallway, or create a bold focal point — as it often becomes the element that transforms a well-designed room into an iconic one.