Foraged Fungi and Wild Mushroom Pattern Trend 2021-2023

A trend Inspired by natural living, and the spirits of the forest

Since early 2020, and the rise of cottagecore into mainstream consciousness, the desire for rural living and being close to nature has inspired an explosion of flora and fauna motifs in surface pattern design.

Fungi and wild mushrooms designs both tap into the self sustaining ideal of foraging, and into the more whimsical ideas of magical forests and the spirits that inhabit them. From detailed botanical illustrations of wild mushrooms, to simple line art renditions of fly agarics with their bright red and white spotted crowns, this trend is forecasted to run throughout 2021 into 2023 and beyond. This trend will work across all product categories, with a particular resonance with vintage, alt-culture and cottagecore aesthetic customers.

Fly Agaric With Ferns on Dark Midnight Blue - available on Patternbank

Vintage Wild Mushrooms and Strawberries on Dark Grey Velvet - available on Patternbank

Magical Wild Mushrooms - available to license at Patternbank

Wild Mushroom Pattern With Daisies and Acorns, on Textured Moonstone Blue - available to license at Patternbank

Fairy Ring mushroom Folklore of the British Isles

A fairy ring is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms found mainly in forested areas, but can also appear in grasslands where their presence can appear quite marked and startling to their surroundings.

Fairy rings are the subject of much folklore and myth across the world, particularly in Western Europe. There are often accompanied by tales of great danger, of witches and sometimes the Devil, and great foreboding if the fairies are disturbed.

Much of the fairy ring folklore of Britain and Ireland suggests the circular shape is made from the fairies, or in some tales, witches dancing in a circle on a moonlight night with the circles only becoming visible to mortal beings in the morning light.

Numerous tales focus on the danger of entering a fairy ring, and the consequences that may befall someone who steps into the circle. Many legends suggest that once someone crosses the perimeter, they cannot leave without magical intervention as they will be enchanted by its spell.

Although fairy rings have strong associations with danger, some legends also tell of fairy circles being great places of fertility and fortune. Whilst science can now explain the formation of these magical mushroom rings, the stories and folklore lives on, adding to the myth and mystery of wild mushrooms in nature.

About my wild mushroom surface pattern collections

From folktales to fairy rings, and folk remedies to foraged delights, the wild mushrooms that grown in the British Isles are beautiful reminder of the beauty, magic and potential destructive power of nature. There is something inspiring about the otherworldly shapes, colours and textured of fungi, and the fairy stories that they often appear in.

As an art licensing artist, and folklore illustrator I find great inspiration creating mushroom illustrations, and have created a new collection of mushroom patterns that available to licence. Working in my usual process of creating detailed pencil drawings with shading, before moving to digital colouring allows me to capture all the delicate and fine textural detail within the fungi.