A ceramics and plants theme was chosen to run along the top of an existing dado rail in this restaurant in Forfar.

We decided upon South American ceramics as the terracotta colours worked very well with many other aspects of the decor. The plantlife, birds and monkeys are also all native to South America.

Stimulated by our murals of ceramics in Ryans Restaurant, Edinburgh, the client wanted something similar for their kitchen. Five plates, chosen by the client, were painted and varied in design from a 500 year old lustre Persian plate depicting a face, to an Aztec plate with a very stylised bird.

The highlight of the walls is a stack of pots with trailing plants. This was inspired by a photograph of a Nigerian village showing a similar collection stacked up outside a mud hut.