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How They Printed Wallpaper and Textiles in 1960s Britain

Who knew the process started with a woman using a router, freehand?

By Rain Noe - February 9, 2016

in Interior/Exhibition Design | Materials

Wallpaper is essentially clothing for your walls, which is why I consider it crazy to use it. Clothes go out of fashion, and nothing makes a home look more dated than wallpaper with a pattern that was clearly designed decades ago.

What's even crazier is how labor-intensive it used to be to create wallpaper, even well into the 20th Century. Take a look at this video showing wallpaper production in Great Britain, shot in 1968:

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I love the old look of the silver router the woman in the beginning uses, freehand no less, even as I cringe to see she lacks both eye and respiratory protection, and of course there is no dust collection. I guess I should be more amazed that there were professional power-tool-wielding women in the '60s at all, as I'd assumed that the sexism of the time would have precluded her from that role. Anyways check out the crazy Fred-Flintstone-looking wishbone handle in the photo below, which looks like it drives the screw that clamps the base to the router:

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What the video didn't show is where some of those patterns came from. For that we go back to 1957, where this thief with a camera is stealing them from the greatest artist that ever lived:

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It's cool to see how these things were made, but gosh—is there anything more hideous than old textile patterns?

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Julian Foley

8 years ago

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Crazy article. You might as well reject architecture, because house styles go out of fashion and a colonial home looks like a period piece. And reject artisanship, because paying attention to detail takes time.

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Thom Edley

8 years ago

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The only thing more hideous than old textile patterns is new textile patterns. To wit: http://www.joann.com/nicole-miller-rayon-spandex-fabric-float-teal/14746465.html#start=18

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