Designing Our 2026 Art Nouveau Calendar
We’re well into 2026 now, which means our Art Nouveau poster calendar has been hanging on walls for a good few months. At Pickle Design we create a free wall planner every year to give to our clients and local businesses, always on a theme. We have covered so many in the past – from classic chair design to Cornish food, collective nouns for birds and even times of the day. Even the image at the top of Design Debate came from a calendar we created about graphic design.
For 2026 our theme has been Art Nouveau, a design style I love. I think, though, that the filter through which I first enjoyed it was a retro reinvention. My parents brought the 1970s vibe into our family home and Art Nouveau fitted right in. I grew up in the 1980s, but really it often felt like the 1970s – from Dad’s vinyl records to the clothing hand-me-downs.
Mum loved the poster art of Mucha and we had it everywhere. This American Crescent Cycles poster from 1899 was in our kitchen, printed on board and propped up among the spices. We had Bières de la Meuse by Alphonse Mucha on a coaster, as well as Biscuits Lefèvre-Utile. I remember loving the stars in the poster for Sarah Bernhardt’s 1905–06 American tour, adapted from Mucha’s earlier design.
My dad was a DJ in a wine bar – Buffs, I think it was called – and he illustrated posters for events. I remember plenty of vinyl record covers lying around too. One of the reasons I became a graphic designer was because I wanted to create such epic designs. I haven’t designed vinyl yet, but I am currently creating cassette artwork for my brother Joel’s music! Even Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours feels part of that same decorative 1970s world to me, particularly the typography.
Then there were all those floral swooshes and swirls. The revival of Art Nouveau forms in 1960s and 1970s graphics feels very familiar to me, and from the swing chair in the garden to my bedspread, those retro natural forms were everywhere. I remember seeing photos of my dad’s teenage bedroom, which he had hand-painted in orange swirls – rather like our calendar, actually. So when my boss Carl chose our theme for this year, I was already brimming with ideas.
It did take us a little while to settle on a style. Typically, although I am a graphic designer, I just love to draw, so any excuse and I will pull out my pen. Replicating one of the most detailed and elaborate design styles is no mean feat, and although I initially hand-drew my impressions of our favourites, we soon settled on a more graphic, vector representation.
The colour palette was great fun too. I love limiting myself to a few colours; I feel it really helps pull everything together.
We picked twelve designs, one for each month of the year. For me there were certain artists and designers who simply had to be included. A memorable trip to Barcelona when I was 17, with my photography class, ignited a lifelong fascination with Antoni Gaudí’s buildings. Casa Batlló, with its undulating façade, had to be in there.
I particularly remember liking the palm-leaf gates I saw at Park Güell. They were originally designed by Gaudí for Casa Vicens, and the motif was wonderfully graphic. The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya has one of the original gates in its collection.
Rennie Mackintosh too. I used to scribble my own versions of his designs in my sketchbooks. His chair for Hill House sits here next to one of his floral illustrations, Gilardia.
On another school trip, this time to Paris, I remember seeing those striking, almost alien Métro signs rising from the pavement and looming over everyone descending underground. Hector Guimard’s entrances are such memorable pieces of design.
Then there is the Thonet bentwood chair, one of the great café-chair classics. We had recorded our love of Thonet design at Pickle once before. Some of the twelve designs were new to me, but a delight to discover.
It was a challenge, though, limiting some of the most colourful and intricate artefacts to two block colours! Hopefully we did them justice, or at least sparked an interest to find out more.
We have been reinterpreting the artwork again for our newsletters. You can sign up there if you like.
Designs for 2027 are already forming, once again something completely different! Sometimes I think we’ll run out of ideas, but that is a silly thought. There is just so much that is captivating in this world, created and natural, and if you are anything like me then you can find beauty in something as simple as a paperclip.
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