Inspired by Science, Designed for Happiness: Chatting With Ingrid Fetell Lee of The Aesthetics of Joy About Our Wallpaper Collaboration

Hygge is all about appreciating the simple joys in life, which is why we couldn't think of a more fitting person to collaborate with than Ingrid Fetell Lee. As a designer and author known for her pioneering work on the relationship between design and joy, founder of The Aesthetics of Joy, and author of Joyful, Ingrid brings her research to life in our newest collection using pattern and color to spark delight in everyday spaces.

Parasol (Coral) Wallpaper
Together, we’ve created a one-of-a-kind collection inspired by the season of simple pleasures: summer. We're so excited to share these wallpapers with you and see how you use them in your homes. Read on to learn more about Ingrid and the creation of these joyful wallpapers.
"Summer overflows with color, texture, and movement. That sense of joyful abundance was a core inspiration for this collection."

Heirloom (Ebony) Wallpaper
Hygge & West: Tell us about your background.
Ingrid Fettel Lee: I’m a designer and researcher who explores how our surroundings shape our emotions in unexpected ways. My interest in joy began with a simple observation: certain colors, shapes, and patterns seem to spark delight—almost instantly and across cultures. That insight led me to the intersection of design, psychology, and neuroscience, where I study how we can use the built environment to support emotional well-being. My work is really about helping people see that joy isn’t just a fleeting feeling—it’s something we can cultivate through the spaces and things we surround ourselves with.


H&W: What is The Aesthetics of Joy and how did it come to be?
IFL: The Aesthetics of Joy began with an offhand comment from a professor during my first year-end review in design school. He said, “Your work gives me a feeling of joy.” At first, I found that idea strange—joy had always seemed like something fleeting and intangible, not something you could design. We’re often taught that the objects and environments around us are too superficial to affect our deeper happiness. When I asked how design might create that feeling, none of my professors had a clear answer. That moment lit a spark. I began noticing places and objects that seemed to spark joy almost universally, such as confetti, bubbles, or a row of brightly colored houses. As I dug deeper and talked to people around the world, I began to identify a set of patterns and principles—a kind of visual language—that could reliably evoke joy. I came to call these the “aesthetics of joy.” What started as a research project and personal blog eventually became a book, Joyful, and a TED talk in 2018, and has since grown into a broader platform and community. The goal of The Aesthetics of Joy is to bridge the gap between science and design, and to show how small, intentional changes in our surroundings—whether through color, pattern, movement, or form—can create more joy in everyday life.


H&W: How do you describe your aesthetic?
IFL: My aesthetic is vibrant, light, and layered. I’m drawn to bold colors and lively patterns, balanced by symmetry and clean shapes that keep things feeling joyful but grounded. In terms of the aesthetics of joy, I’m especially inspired by energy (bright color and light) and abundance (multiplicity and variety) anchored by harmony (symmetry, rhythm, and repetition). I love these terms because they point to the deeper reasons we’re drawn to certain visuals—like how bright colors energize us, or how repeating patterns create a sense of order that soothes the brain.


Picnic (Parchment) Wallpaper
H&W: Tell us about where you live and how that influences your work?
IFL: I live in East Hampton, NY, a beach community on the far eastern end of Long Island. While the Hamptons are often associated with social scenes and status, my experience is something much quieter and more rooted in nature. It’s the simple pleasures that bring me joy: riding bikes with my family, digging in the garden, picking vegetables at our local farm, collecting shells along the beach, or gathering for picnics with friends. Being immersed in the natural world—especially in such a seasonal place—has a huge influence on my work.



Heirloom (Blush) Wallpaper
In winter, the quiet creates time and space for deep reflection. Summer overflows with color, texture, and movement. That sense of joyful abundance was a core inspiration for this collection, through patterns inspired by sun-faded stripes, beach umbrellas, tomato vines, and the colors of long, golden summer days.

Lanai (Parchment) Wallpaper
H&W: How does this wallpaper collection fit in with the mission of The Aesthetics of Joy?
IFL: I’ve always wanted to design wallpaper because it has the power to completely transform a space—not just how a room looks, but how it feels. In my course Design a Home You Love, I’ve seen again and again how wallpaper can shift the energy of a space. Students spend more time in a room, gather more often, linger over meals or games with their kids. Wallpaper doesn’t just decorate; it creates a world. This collection brings the ideas behind Joyful off the page and into your surroundings, translating the aesthetics of joy into patterns you can live with every day. It’s a celebration of how our homes can shape our mood and support rhythms of well-being. My hope is that these designs spark moments of delight, turning everyday spaces into sources of joy.

Lanai (Mint) Wallpaper
"My hope is that these designs spark moments of delight, turning everyday spaces into sources of joy."

Parasol (Cornflower) Wallpaper
H&W: Where do you envision these wallpapers being used?
IFL: When decorating my own home, one of my goals has always been to make it feel like we’re on summer vacation year-round—and that spirit is woven throughout this collection. I imagine these patterns being used anywhere someone wants to evoke that easy, carefree feeling of summer freedom. Heirloom makes a lush backdrop for a kitchen or dining room, while Lanai brings a breezy, dreamy vibe that’s perfect for a bedroom. Picnic’s versatile stripe adds a punch of personality—great in a small bathroom, a cheerful entryway, or anywhere you want a pop of playfulness. And Parasol, with its bold, graphic rhythm, would be brilliant on a stairway wall or in a kid’s room. If I happened to have a poolhouse, that’s exactly where I’d put it.


H&W: 'Hygge' means comfort, coziness, and finding pleasure in life's simple moments. What represents hygge for you? How do you find or create it in your own life?
IFL: In no particular order, hygge for me is: lighting candles for weeknight dinners, squeezing into my son’s bed to read bedtime stories, toasting marshmallows while the fireflies blink in the dusk, long hangs with good friends that go from beach to backyard to dinner without any formal invitation, the sounds of peepers and cicadas, messy bunches of garden flowers, a quiet hour with a book and a cup of tea, misty mornings at the farm, antiquing with my husband, date nights that end with an ice cream sundae, long walks with a friend. The idea of hygge aligns closely with something I see at the heart of joy: the quiet power of small moments. We tend to overlook them—thinking they’re too ordinary to matter—but in reality, it’s these fleeting, sensory fragments that root us in the present and remind us we’re alive. To me, creating hygge is about making room for those moments, and letting them matter.