Mental health charity SAMH unveils wallpaper for their new drop-in clinics – known as Nooks – the first of which will open in Glasgow this year
Awallpaper designed for a mental health clinic may not sound like the cheeriest thing, but in this case, the exact opposite is true – and that’s intentional. Innovative Glasgow-based wallpaper brand No Rules Wallpaper have worked closely with SAMH to create an uplifting design, intended to encourage a positive, comfortable and inviting environment for patients visiting Scotland’s first walk-in mental health hub, where the wallpaper will feature.
SAMH’s ‘Nooks’ will offer barrier-free access to mental health support from Autumn 2025, with more hubs to follow across Scotland. With a no-appointments, no-referral policy, the centres are designed to make mental health care more accessible for all, providing ‘a place to ask once and get help fast.’
These spaces will see people at their most vulnerable, so creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere was essential. Interior design goes a long way to facilitate this, and the SAMH team understand it’s anything but superficial. Designers Anna Campbell Jones and Finni Porter Chambers also played key roles in the conceptualisation of the space.
Ignoring the clinical language that is typically associated with mental health service spaces was a key consideration, creating an environment where people would “feel safe,” according to Anna.
“Wallpaper can feel familiar and nostalgic,” adds Yvonne Elliott-Kellighan, co-founder and creative director at No Rules Wallpaper, “it reminds people of the comfort of a home setting rather than a clinical one.”
Young people and individuals with lived experience of mental health struggles were invited to get involved in the creative process, contributing to the design of the wallpaper through a series of immersive workshops.
“These are the people who are going to be using the spaces,” says Yvonne. “So it was really important to find out the colours, textures and illustrations that they connect with.”
The result is something special – it’s a meandering, free-flowing design with Glasgow at its core.
There’s the Duke of Wellington, his cheeky cone hat clearly discernible even in silhouette form, and the Glasgow Coat of Arms is dispersed throughout the design. A tree mingles with a fish, a bird and a bell, and everything looks like it’s flourishing.
Sunny, happy colours radiate from the paper, without shying away from the blues, they are just as much a part of the overall design. There’s the outline of a tree, somewhat surreally cerulean, and wavy lines dance across the paper like inky tide marks.
An indigo grid could be windows, bars or gingham. It’s at the viewer’s discretion, which is the joy of art like this – and this wallpaper is art. It gives you pause for thought.
Yvonne agrees, saying that the wallpaper can “act as a tool to help create positive distractions in times of distress. Plus, interesting illustrations can promote mindfulness.”
Indeed, the wide-ranging benefits of art in relation to mental health are well reported, with a recent paper from the World Health Organisation confirming that participating in arts activities can build self-esteem, self-acceptance, confidence and self-worth. Even something as passive as looking at art is a known mood booster.
Poignantly, drawing your feelings is a commonly used therapeutic technique which this project taps into. Jagged lines are meant to represent Zaha Hadid’s iconic Riverside Museum, but they could just as easily refer to difficult emotions. The grid in front of it signify the caged feeling of struggling with your mental health. Behind it, however, is a flower, promising hope and growth.
It might just be wallpaper, but it’s also a reminder. Even if you’re struggling, it’s still possible to be part of something beautiful.
Wallpaper is powerful, it can change a room and your frame of mind. Click the link below to find out about the process behind the final product…
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