Will Allen

Will Allen

Will Allen is the founder of Painted Ltd, continuing a lifelong engagement with art shaped by a family deeply involved in collecting, curating and dealing in fine and decorative arts.

He is the son of Armin Allen, a curator associated with the Preservation Society of Newport County in Rhode Island and a dealer specialising in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European ceramics, and Susanna Allen, former director of the Beadleston Gallery in New York and founder of Susanna Allen Fine Arts, specialising in Impressionist masters.

Growing up within this environment gave Allen an early familiarity with both fine and decorative art and, importantly, with the relationship between artists, collectors, dealers and skilled craftspeople. This background would later inform his work with Painted Ltd and his interest in translating the work of contemporary artists into the medium of hand-knotted tapestry.

Through Painted Ltd, Allen has commissioned and collaborated on limited-edition tapestries with established contemporary artists, continuing the tradition of artist-designed textiles while exploring the possibilities of tapestry as a contemporary art form.

In 2026, Allen created his own tapestry, Tartaruga. Produced as a hand-knotted tapestry in India, the work was issued in a limited edition of 20 plus artist's proofs.

Tartaruga represents a personal addition to a collection shaped by Allen's longstanding involvement with artists, craftsmanship and the decorative arts. It also continues the dialogue at the heart of Painted Ltd: bringing contemporary imagery together with the skill, texture and physical presence of traditional hand-knotted textile.