Risk-taker par excellence and style maven extraordinaire, Florence Broadhurst's most exhilarating legacy is a design archive making waves around the world today. But this is where her legend begins.


Born in 1899 in a remote rural corner of Australia's Queensland, Florence Broadhurst lived a series of vivid, fantastic lives. Her humble beginnings on a cattle ranch did nothing to limit her adventurous spirit and quest for a glamorous life. Each decade, she reinvented herself and could be described as a living work of art. In her 20s, she called herself Miss Bobby, and she performed as a singer and dancer in China and Southeast Asia with the vaudeville troupe The Smart Set. She finished the decade running the Broadhurst Academy, teaching music, voice, and dance in Shanghai.

Florence did not limit performance to the stage and became a mistress of reinvention. By the 1930s, she changed her name to Madame Pellier and became a French couturier, dressing the upper echelons of London society. In her new guise, she returned to Australia as an artist and English aristocrat and drove across the country painting. She was a prolific painter, creating 114 works in two years. With every change of persona, Florence reinvented herself completely, changing her hair colour, accent, and biography. She wore feathers, striking colours and bold jewellery, always well-groomed and elegant. This was a complete and magnificent life, but it was only the beginning.

With every incarnation, Florence became somebody new, with a new hair colour, accent, history, and even, on occasion, name. At the age of 60, she did it again, launching her defining venture in Sydney, an internationally successful luxury hand-printed wallpaper business.

She created an international luxury wallpaper business in Sydney, Florence Broadhurst Wallpapers, and announced she would colour Australia. In so doing, she re-drew the world. Everywhere she had been and everything she had seen found voice in a whirlwind of creativity. Florence's archive grew to over 500 images ranging from tapestries to geometrics, florals, psychedelic, and delightfully eccentric chinoiserie.

“Her patterns are exceptional. They exist on the cusp of a paradox, every time you think you can sum them up, you can't.” Ilse Crawford, British Designer

Florence created hand-screen printed wallpapers and textiles, and her designs took the world by storm. They were eclectic, bright, bold, and colourful, reflecting her unique personality and style. From Moroccan architecture to Japanese art, Florence's colourful life experiences fed seamlessly into her groundbreaking designs. Her use of geometric shapes, outsized motifs, and metallic inks blended the traditional with the contemporary. Her patterns were the antidote to dull designs, bold, colourful statements that reflected her flamboyant personality. Red birds of paradise with elaborate feathers, turmeric yellow Japanese lotus flowers on a scarlet background, stampeding horses and tiger stripes, there was nothing run of the mill about her creative output. She was also a master innovator, printing onto metallic surfaces and developing a drying rack system to produce wallpapers in larger quantities.

“You can state your character by your choice of wallpaper.” Florence Broadhurst, Sydney Morning Herald, May 20, 1966

Upon her death, Florence disappeared. Today, thanks to the passion of Signature Design Archive, she is stepping back onto the international stage with designs that transcend fashion, work so boldly glamorous and versatile it speaks to innovators in every field.

The woman with the fiery red hair and personality to match will never be forgotten. She left an archive of over 500 designs, and her wallpapers still adorn classic and contemporary homes worldwide. Her work has grown in popularity in recent years, and here at Lagom Design, we can't wait to bring Florence's designs to a new generation. She is a life, an enigma, a legend and a legacy. Florence Broadhurst, the story is not over yet.

To view our Florence Broadhurst collection, click here.