The Age of Castlecore

Stone staircases, tapestry-lined walls, embroidered beasts and botanical curiosities.

Pinterest predicts a return to medieval romance. Under the name Castlecore, a decorative language re-emerges. Heraldry, dense pattern, and a taste for ornament over restraint.

From Embroidery sampling, tapestries to crewelwork, here is an introduction to some medieval textile traditions that have inspired our Sanderson designers, and where you can see the original works today.

Embroidery Samplers

A tradition over 1,000 years old, samplers were trials, examples and motifs of embroidery that could be used to document a design. Think it of it as creating a design that can be recreated, before there was any reproduction of anything in print. We can see this in the way the English word “sampler” derives from the Latin “exemplum”, or the old French term “essamplaire”, meaning “an example”.

In England and elsewhere in Europe in the 17th century, these embroidery samplers developed into a method of instruction and practice for girls learning needlework.

All sorts of samplers exist from the medieval ages, from stitching technique patterns to motifs. At Sanderson, our designers were particularly drawn to samplers of animals and nature. You can see bestiaries, frolicking goats, and badgers in Medieval Embroidery, a design based on a 17th-century document and a medieval sampler, part of Sanderson’s collection with the National Trust.

Thyme Walk, meanwhile, is inspired by medieval handcrafted silk samplers and depicts the trees and plants at Highgrove House. It featured within Highgrove by Sanderson, a collection created in partnership with The King’s Foundation.

Where to see: You can find examples of 17th-century samplers at the V&A South Kensington, and the V&A East Storehouse.

Tapestries

Medieval tapestries in Europe were often the most costly and grandest medium to depict stories on a two-dimensional flat surface – far more than painting before the Renaissance.

One of our Sanderson wallpaper designs, Aurelia’s Grail, is inspired by such medieval tapestries. Within the rambling roses, and a noble lady clothed in damask, there is unicorn depicted.

We can see that this unicorn is inspired by the Medieval tapestry, À mon seul désir, which is part of a six-tapestry set known today as “The Lady and The Unicorn”. It was woven in Flanders from wool and silk at around 1500. Of the five tapestries – which are commonly understood to depict the five senses – this sixth tapestry is mysterious. Some say it’s a representation of love or understanding, but the symbolic truth is yet to be known.

Where to see: À mon seul désir is on display at Musée de Cluny in Paris.

medieval emboridery fabric castlecore sanderson

Crewelwork

One of the oldest forms of English embroidery, crewelwork – or crewel embroidery – is made by stitching a woollen yarn called “crewel” onto a thick fabric canvas. Crewel stitches often lay above the surface of the canvas, producing textured, three-dimensional designs.

Originating in the 11th century, one of the earliest examples of crewelwork we have is the Bayeaux Tapestry, which will be on display in London in 2026.

Crewel embroidery experienced a revival in England during the 17th century through the Jacobean era, which is where our designers at Sanderson became particularly inspired.

For our latest National Trust collection, the designers were inspired by Brockhampton Estate’s fruit trees, blossoms, and meadows, as well as the rooms within the timber-framed manor, which featured wonderful examples of Jacobean crewelwork.

In designs like Harvest Fruits, Habington, and Kitchen Garden Embroidery, you can see how this storied textile technique has been adapted and inspired for our contemporary designs for the Sanderson x National Trust Volume II collection.

Where to see: The Bayeux Tapestry at British Museum, September 2026 – July 2027