Börsjö reproduction late 19th century wallpaper, by Duro
The model for this paper, originally a ceiling paper, dates from 1865-1890.
Ceilings in France began to be decorated with painted designs and decorative papers around the year 1800. It would take until the late nineteenth century for this development to make itself felt in the Nordic countries, and these designs only took off once the renaissance revival style became popular there, in the 1870s-1880s. Wallpapers and ceiling papers of this type then began to be printed in vast numbers at all Swedish factories.
This type of pattern was used for both ceilings and walls at the time: it was important that the pattern looked the same when viewed from every angle, so small-scale geometric patterns with rhombuses, stars or four-petaled flowers were popular. The designs for ceilings were typically printed on a white or natural background, even incorporating gold accents. In contrast, the most typical wallpapers of this period were very dark, often on a black background.
