Ms Ellis suggests being a wallpaper historian is a bit like playing an interior detective. People remember wallpaper more than the sofa they had – maybe because it’s in your eyeline all the time.” I remember orange and green geometric florals in our house and I think it’s like any kind of fashion – there are pendulum swings.

“I think if you did live through that time that you never forget the wallpaper. “If you look at the 80s and 90s everybody had, white walls and tubular furniture and then IKEA had a big influence on getting everybody to have things very plain and Scandi.”Įllis herself was a child of the 70s and so, like me, has never forgotten the wallpaper of that time. ‘Patterns can take you back to a moment in time,’ according to the exhibition’s curator Olivia Heron (Photo: The Whitworth) Lucy Ellis, a committee member of the Wallpaper History Society, said choices are cyclical and follow trends: “ is a bit like clothing in that it is influenced by what’s going on in the outside world – I think when there’s a bit of a slump, people need cheering up and they turn to pattern to lift their spirits and when times are better, people go minimalist. The Covid-19 lockdowns gave many people a chance to consider what was on the walls around them but fewer people do their own wallpapering these days and for those people living in rented accommodation, adding wallpaper may not be possible. Today, plain walls are often seen as more fashionable with the occasional wallpaper feature wall making an appearance. In the 30s wallpaper was even advertised as having psychological benefits – adverts suggested you were failing your children if you didn’t choose a nice wallpaper. There was a huge house building programme in the 20s and 30s and for these new suburban houses the idea of bringing the garden inside through wallpaper was fashionable so big florals proved popular. The Victorians were particularly fond of flowery wallpaper and after the First World War the time was right for its resurgence. The wallpaper industry was traditionally based in the North West of England, as it was linked with the cotton industry and shared some of the same machinery.

Floods of memories come out – both warm and sometimes difficult memories.” People have been really excited to share their stories. Patterns can take you back to a moment in time. In its heyday wallpaper saw inside it all: Law courts, pubs, manor houses, council flats, shopping, fights, meals, politics, parties, loneliness, housework, laughter, desire, bath-time, DIY, play, music, addiction, television, pets, rest, illness, fear, hunger, mess, grief, excess, prayer, death, boredom and joy all muddied our views of the wallpaper.” Eugene Sobers submitted a photo of her wallpaper as part of the project at The Whitworth Gallery, Manchester (Photo: supplied)Įxhibition curator Olivia Heron says: “They were the backdrop to so much life. The Open House website says: “Until now we haven’t recorded the stories provoked by these patterns. Now, the Whitworth gallery in Manchester, which has curated more than 10,000 wallpapers in its collection, from cheap and cheerful factory remnants to older hand printed examples, is encouraging people to bring in photos of themselves with their wallpaper and talk about the memories they bring back as part of its Open House project. The way we cover our walls can reveal as much about us as the clothes we choose to wear. It was a green and turquoise pattern and although my memory of the design was slightly different from the reality, I am sure its presence in my childhood has influenced the fact that I really like 70s design today. I recently asked my mum to dig out an old photograph of me in my bedroom surrounded by my typically 70s wallpaper. Wallpaper can be more than just something to brighten a room or cover a damp patch. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s infamous gold wallpaper in the flat above Number 10 Downing Street may have made weeks of newspaper headlines but the choices that the rest of us make when it comes to home wallcoverings can also live long in the memory.

Geometric star wallpaper