This artist handpaints bespoke wallcoverings for big-name fashion and design brands

Yolande Milan Batteau is fueled by traditional craftsmanship. The founder of New York–based surface design studio Callidus Guild —which loosely translates from the Latin to “skilled” or “dexterous” guild—employs an array of time-honored techniques when creating her one-of-a-kind wallcoverings. “You have to read books, try out formulas and experiment,” she tells Business of Home . “My studio functions very much like a laboratory, and we’re always trying new things.”

Though she studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, Batteau largely considers herself an autodidact, gleaning skills from her world travels and conversations with other artists. She launched Callidus Guild in the late 1990s while living in Northern California and exhibiting her fine artwork in galleries across t