I recently pulled this piece of imitation leather from storage to consider for an exhibition and was struck by the beauty of the material and craftsmanship. This is paper, a very heavy stock, which is embossed and printed to imitate an antique leather. The design is wood block printed, the paper is embossed with a...

Here is a fun wallpaper that would have appealed to the do-it-yourself market. This is wallpaper sold in squares rather than the typical roll. Like the vinyl floor tiles sold as an alternative to the rolls of linoleum. Wallpaper squares were marketed as being easy to apply, no special tools or talent required. Each square...

Of the 10,000 plus wallpapers in the Cooper Hewitt collection this piece is not the most visually exciting. But it is significant. This CoverAge product is possibly the earliest wallpaper made from 100% recycled materials. The paper is made from post-consumer paper and cardboard along with wood bits salvaged from old pallets and scrap wood,...

Whenever I come across this paper I always stop and give it a second glance, not sure whether to love it or hate it. Twelve years later it still grabs my attention. Keep in mind this is an inexpensive machine printed paper. If you can disregard the stripes for a minute, the butterflies and roses...

This is a classic and rather timeless pattern created by John Rombola whose unique drawing style stands apart from other mid-century designers. Rombola gives character to his whimsical designs, a mix of naïve and fantastical, through his use of brilliant color and pattern. Egypt contains numerous icons of ancient Egypt including a very fashionable Cleopatra,...

Just wanted to highlight something new for the Wallcoverings department. This is an actual textile produced in a weight appropriate for walls. The heavier weight allows this to be pasted and applied directly to the wall just like wallpaper without the need for a paper backing. Swirl is a non-repeating design of coiled colored fibers...

Lines Forest is a recently acquired wallpaper I am happy to write about. The design somewhat resembles a circuit board with its minimal rendering of design elements but the title clearly sets the record straight that this is a forest, though not necessarily one containing trees. The design is composed of strong verticals along with...

With the July 4th weekend upon us, the first thing that comes to mind is travel, and fireworks! Heading out to the beach, taking a road trip, finding a nice quiet place to relax. I felt the Souvenir wallpaper was a perfect way to explore this idea. Consisting of a series of snapshots, almost post...

This roll of embossed imitation leather wallpaper is a beautiful example of Art Nouveau design. The pattern is a repeating design of a single motif, a stylized ear of wheat or other grain, lined up in offset horizontal rows. The leaves have been delicately rendered with the tip ending in a scroll, while the top...

I find the design format of the Industry wallpaper particularly appealing. The pattern’s symmetry creates a nice sense of balance, while the monochrome gray colorway with equally spaced elements makes for a nice visual flow. Following all reason these factors should create a calm, neutral background. But when you start identifying individual elements such as...

While Sheila Bridge’s Harlem Toile De Juoy was obviously modeled after a toile textile, hence the name, it also shares obvious characteristics with early wallpapers. The staggered placement of elements, the landscape views, and the scenes from daily life were common elements on wallpapers from the late 18th century onwards. Wallpaper landscapes were introduced by...

I have always been a fan of modernist painter Joan Miró. I admire the naiveté and reductive quality in his work, along with his use of bold colors, and his disregard for perspective. Also the way he overlaps elements in his designs and his use of positive and negative spaces. All of these come to...

The use of common, mundane materials creates a contemporary rendering of a traditional pattern in this wallpaper. “Barbed Wire” creates a window pane plaid design by the crossing of wires at right angles. The plaid design, a common wallpaper motif with collection examples dating back to the early nineteenth century, has been interpreted in a...

This charming pattern of kites seems like a perfect selection for a spring day. This pattern is one of many in a sample book also containing designs by Ilonka Karasz, Marion Dorn, Lanette Scheeline, and Zue Martin. Designed by William Justema the pattern is a collage of newspaper, fabric and metallic gold accents. The butterfly...

This is an interesting paper reproducing images of game birds from John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Originally created in watercolors by Audubon between 1827-1838, Katzenbach has faithfully reproduced the images as lithographs to accurately capture the softness and texture of the watercolor pigments. The selected birds include, from top to bottom: the White-fronted goose,...