News and events

The Wallpaper History Society is pleased to invite wallpaper and design enthusiasts to an online talk ‘The Life of Wallpapers: The Huard Collection at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum’ by Emily Banas, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Find out more and book

It’s always a treat for WHS members to gather in the beautiful and august surroundings of the Art Workers’ Guild in Bloomsbury, and November 16th was no exception. An audience of over 40 people came to review the finances, approve changes to the committee and celebrate the past year. Read more...

A fascinating tour of houses with historic wallpapers, led by David Skinner.

This members-only event will run from 3rd to 6th September 2025.

Full details and ticketing will follow.

Places are limited so early booking will be necessary.

Our tireless Chair, Rowena Beighton-Dykes, fresh from editing the recent WHS Review, will be speaking to the Liverpool branch of the Victorian Society on an area of wallpaper that she has researched in depth - the socio-economic and political context of wallpaper purchases by members of the Anglican Church in the 19th century. 

The talk takes place on November 23 2024 at 2.30pm at the The Quaker Meeting House, 22 School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BT .

To book, follow this link: https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/regional-group-events/talk-more-wallpaper-vicar-a-talk-by-rowena-beighton-dykes/

A reminder that the WHS AGM and annual lecture will take place at The Art Workers’ Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AT on Saturday November 16.

All members are welcome to attend the AGM which starts at 12.30pm. Please see here for the agenda, the minutes from the AGM in 2023 and the annual accounts. The AGM is followed by lunch and the annual lecture ‘Joanna Banham on Oscar Wilde, Wallpapers & the House Beautiful’. Tickets for the lunch and lecture cost £35 for members and £37.50 for non-members, and are available on Eventbrite

We have vacancies for two new committee members. If you think you might be interested in this role and would like to find out more, please email info@wallpaperhistorysociety.org.uk

Catch up with this talk which explores how science contributes to the understanding and conservation of historic interiors, using examples from Dr Lynda Skipper's work on a range of different historic wallpaper projects. From toxic wallpaper pigments to the dating of paper... Read more and watch this talk

Joanna Banham discusses Oscar Wilde's contribution to late Victorian debates about interior design, wallpaper, and aesthetic choices.

Oscar Wilde’s famous last words “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us must go” have become a by-word for all that was most ugly and vulgar about late-Victorian wallpaper design. Read more...

The Lincoln Conservation Team will be offering a series of free, interactive and informative Online Webinars through 2024-2025. Each session is about 1 hour in length, with ten minutes dedicated to Q&A’s. Find out more...

Visits are planned that will include the Oxford University Press and the Bodleian Libraries, with Marinita Stiglitz, Head of Paper Conservation, who has been looking at various Japanese papers in the collections. There will also be lectures late afternoon on Saturday and on Sunday morning. For details and how to book...

A new exhibition at The William Morris Society in Hammersmith explores the visually rich art of wallpaper. On loan from Sanderson Design Group, The Art of Wallpaper: Morris & Co. in Context runs until 11th August. Read more...

On 9 March 2024 members of the WHS enjoyed an afternoon at the studio of Marthe Armitage, now managed by her daughter Jo Broadhurst. Both mother and daughter hosted the event, which was informal and informative, allowing plenty of time to appreciate the legacy and potential of Marthe Armitage’s career and tremendous output. Read more...

WHS members are invited to join us for a tour of the studio and showroom of Marthe Armitage, now managed by her daughter, Jo Broadhurst.
Marthe Armitage is a renowned British wallpaper designer whose work is characterised by unique hand-drawn designs that are hand printed from lino blocks. Her daughter Jo Broadhurst now runs the studio where they design textiles as well as wallpapers.
Members have already received notice of this event but can also obtain information from membership@wallpaperhistorysociety.org.uk

Get your diaries out! The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) museum is planning an exciting new wallpaper exhibition for November (2024). Thanks to curator Emily Banas for sending us this information.​

The Art Workers’ Guild in Bloomsbury, central London, was founded in 1884 by young architects and designers who ‘wanted to create a meeting place for the fine arts and the applied arts on an equal footing’. What better place than to play host to the Wallpaper History Society AGM and annual lecture. Read more...

On 25th September 2023, Temple Newsam in Leeds, West Yorkshire, opened its doors to country house owners, curators, and enthusiasts for a special study day dedicated to Chinese wallpaper. Organised by Historic Houses, the event focused on understanding these beautiful wallcoverings within the broader style phenomenon of chinoiserie  - the European interpretation of East Asian art and design.  Read more...

Members of WHS arrived at Insole Court on September 16th in pouring rain, but a team of enthusiastic volunteers was ready to warm us up with coffee and biscuits. The house sits in the wealthy suburb of Llandaff in South Wales, and enjoys beautifully restored gardens, now open to the public, and a view over Cardiff Bay. Read more...

A talk by David Skinner.
Houses have both a history and a memory. Their memory is imprinted on interior surfaces and objects and sustained through oral history. Ireland's heritage of vernacular rural houses is threatened both by neglect and the needs of twenty-first century living. Find out more and book here

Embossed wallpapers such as Lincrusta have been popular since the late nineteenth century, and they continue to sell well today. Lincrusta was popular with Victorians for its durability and hygienic qualities, and could be made to imitate other materials such as plaster, wood and leather.
Find out more and book here

We have an exciting new product in the WHS online shop – the WHS Index! This 69-page download is largely the work of volunteers who have painstakingly compiled an index of all articles in the WHS Review from 1989 to 2020. It’s an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to track down a specific article for research or enjoyment. No more leafing through Review after Review – now you can get straight to the one you want for just £5. See the WHS shop for details.

Join us for a special visit to Insole Court in Cardiff, a Grade II* listed mansion house, with a special series of wallpaper-related events between 10am and 12. This will include an illustrated talk by one of Insole Court’s researchers about the wallpapers found in the house, including new findings and interpretation progressed subsequent to the analysis of Cowtan Order Books by Dr Wendy Andrews. Find out more and book here...

Applications are now open for the Merryl Huxtable Prize 2024. This bursary, offered by the Wallpaper History Society, supports historical research and/or developments in the conservation of wallcoverings. The bursary prize is offered in memory of Merryl Huxtable, a founder member of the WHS and pioneer in the field of wallpaper conservation. The deadline for applications has been extended to August 31st 2023
 
Please see our Bursary page for more details and to learn about previous recipients of the award.

Eighteen members of WHS descended by bus, coach, car and train on Kilkenny on May 19th to enjoy a tour of some of Ireland’s finest houses and original wallpapers, expertly guided by wallpaper historian and maker David Skinner. This trip, postponed from 2020 by the pandemic, attracted members from as far away as the Netherlands and Boston, USA. Find out more...

In this talk, Bo will transport us back to the year 1907 for a look at the experience of shopping for wallpaper during the Arts & Crafts era in America. From wallpaper's design, production and distribution through how the latest style trends were served up and sold, this journey will be a visual feast for anyone with a hunger for the delights of wallpaper history. Find out more...

Presenters from around the world will share their insights into recurring design themes from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. This will be a visually rich and varied event, including archival material and more recent responses inspired and influenced by historic sources. Find out more...

We’re excited to introduce a new gallery onto our website. The wallpaper trademark gallery showcases makers’ marks and stamps from the 19th century onwards. These fascinating stamps are not only a useful resource for anybody researching wallpaper and its manufacture, but may help people with old rolls of paper at home who’d like to try and identify their origins. We’d like to add more to the gallery so please do submit them via our Instagram. Visit our gallery

Through 2022 Open House has gradually unfolded through an exhibition; a volunteer project to photograph 5000 of the Whitworth's everyday wallpapers; an extensive programme of public events; and a call out gathering your photos and stories about life lived against the backdrop of wallpaper, which have been displayed in the exhibition and will be collated in a book. Read more...

Open House is a project that connects life lived in front of the wallpaper with the 10,000 wall coverings looked after at the Whitworth. 
Wallpapers began arriving at the Whitworth in 1967 and today we house a collection of around 10,000 examples. Some of these are luxurious, beautiful, old and hand-printed, but most are the cheap and cheerful output of factories that gave remnants to museums after ceasing production. Read more...

Since the National Trust opened the house to the public in the 1990s, its priority has been to make the space welcoming and attractive for visitors, and to connect its activities to the local population in Hackney. It’s not surprising then, that wallpaper conservation was low on the agenda for many years. But a recent project lead by Nicola Walker and Phillippa Mapes to uncover and conserve wallpapers in one specific room has revealed new stories about the building and how it was used in different ways over time. Read more...

We are delighted to welcome Catherine Sidwell as our speaker at this year's Wallpaper History Society AGM. Catherine's talk will focus on C.F.A. Voysey’s frequent depiction of birds in his wallpaper designs and why he chose to do so. Find out more...

On 26 July the Wallpaper History Society enjoyed an online talk presented by Rose Sinclair, discussing the extensive research she has undertaken to underpin the exhibition she has co-curated of McNish’s work at the William Morris Gallery...Read more

Copies of the new 2022 Wallpaper History Review have just been posted to all members. The publication is free of charge to all members of the Society, and back issues of previous editions are available to buy in our online shop. If you have not received your copy by 5th August 2022, please let us know. International postage may take longer, but we think it's worth the wait.

Rose Sinclair talks about Althea McNish, subject of a major retrospective "Colour is Mine" now on show at the William Morris Gallery. Read more and book here...

The William Morris Gallery displays the life and work of the radical Victorian designer, craftsman and campaigner, William Morris, and explores his continuing relevance today. Read more...

It is with great sadness that the Wallpaper History Society shares the news that founder member Christine Woods has died. 
Christine was a friend to many of us, encouraging our interest in all things wallpaper, whilst setting the highest standards in research and reporting discoveries. We will miss her, but know that the work she championed continues, and memories of her sense of humour will still raise a smile
Read a full tribute to Christine

Wallpaper designer Flora Roberts shares details of her inspiration and the printing techniques she uses to create her beautiful papers. Wallpaper designer Flora Roberts has worked for Lewis & Wood, Sandersons, Zoffany, GP & J Baker and Mulberry Home. She recently launched her own collection of wallpapers exclusively available at Hamilton Weston Ltd. In this talk Flora will talk about how she uses hand painting techniques to create floral designs inspired by historic houses and gardens. She will discuss her use of contemporary printing techniques which can either make the printed wallpaper look similar to the original artwork or take it in a new direction. Find out more and book

This exhibition, curated by Mary Schoeser and supported by ample material from the Sanderson Design Group Archive, looks at the history and development of the Morris & Co brand. It includes works by artists who designed for Morris & Co, but who are frequently less well-acknowledged. Read more...

Former architect and interior designer Frank Cassata fell in love with vintage textiles early on in his career and was soon seeking out swatch books from across the globe...Read more

Frank Cassata shows us the highlights of his extensive commercial archive, located in Long Island, New York...Read more

The popularity of William Morris endures to this day with so many homes still displaying his vibrant wallpapers replete with English flora and bird life fashioned into stylised patterns reflective of the principles of honest design that drove the Arts and Crafts movement. Now a new exhibition explores the work of the man ... Read more

Following the AGM there was an opportunity to hear Clare Taylor deliver a talk on ‘The Flock Trail: Two Hundred Years of Colour, Pattern and Texture’. Clare’s expertise in this area is well known and the audience was fascinated to learn about the origins, making and hanging of flock paper.... Read more

Members from across the world joined together for the WHS AGM on 10th December 2021, which for the first time took place on Zoom. Although we missed seeing each other and sharing food at the Art Workers’ Guild in London, our normal venue, meeting online allowed many more members to attend.... Read more

Our online event, 'Jane Austen's House' provided a tailored tour of the house and a fascinating insight into the home life of the author, as well as a lively discussion on the wallpapers found. Read more...

Society Members enjoyed a fascinating and entertaining online presentation by Rowena Beighton-Dykes as she shared some of her research into the buying habits and decorative choices of the clergy
Read more ...

The Society's Instagram account, run by Rowena Beighton-Dykes, posts regularly and now has more than 5000 followers. If you're missing out, find us on @wallpaperhistsoc