William Woollams an experienced wallpaper printer founded Woollams & Co in 1835. The company was based in London and was one that catered from the outset on the capital's luxury market in interiors but wallpapers specifically. They produced a series of expensively produced and luxuriously looking wallpapers, many of which were initially at least, block printed.
Luxury was a title that Woollams & Co clearly associated with their company and its wallpaper production, as did the general public. Many homes, that could afford it, covered their walls in embossed, flocked and stamped papers often with large amounts of gold and lively colour schemes. Although seeming somewhat excessive by the standards of today's contemporary interiors, these wallpapers were enthusiastically consumed by the mid-Victorian homeowner.
Illustration: Woollams & Co. Wallpaper design, 1851.
Woollams & Co was liberally and enthusiastically represented at all of the major international exhibitions of the mid-Victorian period. Therefore, their wallpaper design work could be seen at the initial Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, the following international exhibition in Paris in 1855, followed by London again in 1862, with Paris again in 1867 and so on. These exhibitions although superficially a means of exaggerating the achievements of particular nations were, on a more practical level, an extremely useful means of extending various companies markets by attracting both national and international attention to their products. This was particularly the case with a luxury market such as interiors.
Illustration: Woollams & Co. Wallpaper design, 1851.
Woollams & Co did very well within this market for much of the rest of the nineteenth century. However, as that century was drawing to a close, wallpaper itself was changing its status and becoming much more of a standard staple of interiors, rather than that of a luxury. Most wallpaper manufacturers, including Woollams & Co, were using mass manufacturing to produce either most, or all of their printed wallpapers. Either way, Woolams & Co could no longer project wallpaper onto the market as a necessary luxurious indulgence and ask the public to pay accordingly. The luxury interiors market had shifted to incorporate other products, hence the fact that in 1900 due to falling demand and therefore sales, the company of Woollams & Co was incorporated into that of Sanderson & Sons and therefore the company disappeared from the market place altogether.
The illustrations shown here are all Woollams & Co wallpapers and were produced when the company was probably at its height in both popularity and reputation. The first three are derived from the catalogue from the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. The last wallpaper shown comes from another catalogue, this time one associated with the 1867 exhibition in Paris.
Illustration: Woollams & Co. Wallpaper design, 1867.
Although regrettably printed in black and white, the illustrations nevertheless give some indication as to the effort that Woollams & Co spent on producing work that both emphasised an attention to detail and a level of decorative work that was pinpointed to appeal to one particular market. It is obvious that potential customers were left in no doubt as to what Woollams & Co wallpapers expressed. It was one of a feeling of luxury and sumptuousness, which, if not necessarily representing wealth per se, did often do so in the eyes of many, particularly those in the market place who could not afford the luxury. Often the point of luxury interiors is to express wealth or perhaps more accurately the impression of wealth, to other less fortunate and hopefully more envious souls.
Further reading links:
Wallpaper: A History of Style and Trends
The Papered Wall: The History, Patterns and Techniques of Wallpaper, Second Edition
A history of English wallpaper, 1509-1914
Wallpaper, a history
Book of Wallpaper: A History and an Appreciation
Wallpaper, its history, design and use : with frontispiece in colour and numerous illustrations from
WALLPAPER : HISTORY / STYLE
Wallpaper in America: From the Seventeenth Century to World War I
Wallpaper: The Ultimate Guide
Fabrics and Wallpapers for Historic Buildings
Wall Papers for Historic Buildings: A Guide to Selecting Reproduction Wallpapers
Wallpaper (Historic Houses Trust Collection)
Pattern Design: Period Design Source Book
French Scenic Wallpaper 1795-1865
Wallpaper and the Artist: From Durer to Warhol
London Wallpapers: Their Manufacture and Use 1690-1840 (Revised Edition)
