Like other decorative materials, wallpaper has evolved alongside global economic and cultural development. The use of wallpaper in different periods reflects a combination of factors, including local economic development levels, new materials science, and prevailing consumer psychology.
As early as the Tang Dynasty in China, people decorated walls with drawings on paper. In the mid-19th century, the Englishman William Morris began mass-producing printed wallpaper, giving rise to wallpaper in its modern sense. With the changing times, wallpaper has developed in tandem with global economic and cultural progress, undergoing evolution from paper to paper-based designs, foamed paper, printed paper, embossed paper, and special-process paper.
Early wallpaper involved drawing and printing various patterns on walls. It had a certain psychedelic effect but was limited to partial decoration in high-end places such as royal palaces. It wasn't until the late 1970s and early 1980s that it truly entered homes on a large scale, alongside other decorative materials.
In China, wallpaper development started relatively late. From 1976 to 1986, wallpaper was mainly used in high-end restaurants and hotels. From 1986 to 2001, foamed wallpaper was the most popular type of wallpaper, reaching its peak in 1992. Subsequently, due to quality issues, its market share declined.
