In celebration of Women’s History Month, March Object of the Day posts highlight women designers in the collection. This mid-century design of crystalline structures takes on the appearance of falling snowflakes, with the varying scale of the crystals giving the design some dimension. The design is fresh and still appears modern today with its strong...
This design copies the look of parquet flooring. Being in the Walcrest line of the Stamford Wallpaper Company, the design is machine-printed with engraved rollers using oil-based inks. This is the same printing technique used to make the first wipeable wallpapers in the 1870s. This differs from standard machine prints where printing rollers use a...
This design may look familiar to some of you. A similar piece, In the White Room, was created by the same designer and contains a similar construction. In the White Room has been a very popular piece, having been exhibited twice at Cooper Hewitt, and reproduced in numerous publications and blogs. White Room with Text...
The origins of this unique sample of wallpaper are unknown although it was most likely produced in France or Austria in the 1920s. Paul Frankl, prominent early modernist designer in the United States, gifted the wallpaper sample to Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt in 1930. The wallpaper is remarkable for being Cubist in style. The use...
Pattern, color, scale, and repetition are important aspects when considering a wallpaper design for one’s home. The large, dark-red, asymmetrical medallions, set within light pink vining foliage unintentionally form a design of diamond shapes across the paper. Smaller foliate medallions in lighter shades of pink recede, while the darker larger medallions seem to move forward....
A striking Gothic Revival wallpaper with a fairly large repeat, made possible by the woodblock printing. Inspired by Gothic cathedral architecture this design contains two different views: one showing a very deep perspective looking through a chamber with vaulted ceilings, into another with columns, and arched windows and doors, while the other view is a...
Wallpaper sample books are one of the lesser known areas of the Wallcoverings department. While sample books can vary greatly in quality and size, each has a story to tell, offering insights into period color trends and wall treatments. The earliest surviving American sample book was produced by the Janes & Bolles Company, in business...
Wallpaper is available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, with a design, color, or texture to suit every taste. Leave it to Damien Hirst to throw some kinks into this usually conservative medium. This pharmaceutical design is an unusual theme for wallpaper but was very on-point for the restaurant for which it was...
This is another wallpaper design by A.W.N. Pugin in the museum collection. Pugin began designing wallpapers in the early 1840s, and was the most prolific wallpaper designer of the 19th century, designing more patterns than even William Morris. He created a number of private commissions for large country houses, as well as papers for more general...
