I thought this was a charming pattern, with its pastel-colored geometric background pattern reminiscent of tilework. The scrolling white lines covering the surface give the design a textural look, softening the appearance of all the hard lines. They also remind me of the Sno Ball pastries with the coconut-covered exterior. This was a very inexpensive...

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...

This paper fascinates me, which explains why I acquired it for the museum collection. It is an inexpensive, Depression-era paper, but it packs a lot of punch. The design is reminiscent of ceramic tiles which makes it a less than formal pattern and gives it more of a functional aesthetic. While this certainly could be...

Likely dating from the early to mid sixteenth century, this tile illustrates Spain’s rich multicultural design history. Spain’s remarkable decorative pottery tradition originated during the eighth century when the country was conquered by the Moorish Muslim troops of North Africa as part of the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate. This sixteenth-century tile shows how influential...

This tile features an image of the Hartt House on Hull Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The tile is part of a “Boston” set created at the Paul Revere Pottery that depicted old and famous buildings around the Boston area. The outlines of the buildings were incised in the clay when it was still soft and then...