page_title: Wallpaper
section_title: England
hierarchical_section_title: Wallpaper / England
caption_attribution_description: "Artichoke" wallpaper,designed by John henry Dearle for Morris &amp; Co. Printed design pre-1900
context_page_description: Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper", textured, with a regular repeating pattern design, or, much less commonly today, with a single non-repeating large design carried over a set of sheets. The smallest rectangle that can be tiled to form the whole pattern is known as the pattern repeat.
  Wallpaper printing techniques include surface printing, gravure printing, silk screen-printing, rotary printing, and digital printing. Wallpaper is made in long rolls which are hung vertically on a wall. Patterned wallpapers are designed so that the pattern "repeats", and thus pieces cut from the same roll can be hung next to each other so as to continue the pattern without it being easy to see where the join between two pieces occurs.
context_section_description: During the Napoleonic Wars, trade between Europe and Britain evaporated, resulting in the gradual decline of the wallpaper industry in Britain. However, the end of the war saw a massive demand in Europe for British goods which had been inaccessible during the wars, including cheap, colourful wallpaper. The development of steam-powered printing presses in Britain in 1813 allowed manufacturers to mass-produce wallpaper, reducing its price and so making it affordable to working-class people. Wallpaper enjoyed a huge boom in popularity in the nineteenth century, seen as a cheap and very effective way of brightening up cramped and dark rooms in working-class areas. It became almost the norm in most areas of middle-class homes, but remained relatively little used in public buildings and offices, with patterns generally being avoided in such locations. In the latter half of the century Lincrusta and Anaglypta, not strictly wallpapers, became popular competitors, especially below a dado rail. They could be painted and washed, and were a good deal tougher, though also more expensive.
  Wallpaper manufacturing firms established in England in the 19th century included Jeffrey & Co.; Shand Kydd Ltd.; Lightbown, Aspinall & Co.; John Line & Sons; Potter & Co.; Arthur Sanderson & Sons; Townshend & Parker. Designers included Owen Jones, William Morris, and Charles Voysey. In particular, many 19th century designs by Morris & Co and other Arts and Crafts designers remain in production.
caption: "Artichoke" wallpaper by Morris and Co, designed by John Henry Dearle
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