WALLPAPER

After an amazing abundance of colors and form in the 1960s, high-quality wall covers were increasingly substituted by the ubiquitous woodchip paper. In the meantime, though, walipaper has evolved into one of the trend topics in materials. Traditional manufacturers are now employing renowned designers to create new patterns which are clearly inspired by current trends or even evolve into trend setters of their own right.

The architectural revolution of the 1920s precipitated the transformation of traditional, figured wallpaper into a medium for color and little else. As Le Corbusier proclaimed in 1925: 'Aimer la purcté!' (Love the pure!). Yet leaving the walls of his 'machines for living' entirely bare was too purist even for this acknowledged enemy of anything decorative. Although he defìned it as 'painting by machine' Le Corbusier went on to design his own collection of monochrome wallpaper. A fiale earlier. the Weimar Bauhaus group had launched the minimalist Bauhaus Wallpaper line, distinguished by innovative textural effects. The decline of ornament in favor of color made the predominante of ingrain (wood-chip) wallpaper possible. The high and low ends of the market drifted further and further apart, with the cheaper mass produced varieties gradually replacing innovative design. Then designers like Ulf Moritz, Andrea Ptissnicker, Karim Rashid and many others made wallpaper innovative once again. Their collections of the past fèw years have worked with new techniques including unusual optical effects and block printing. The current trend toward expressive wallpaper and individualized wall decor suggests that the pendulum may be moving once again in the direction of pattern and design.