The idea of decorating a wall with paper is one that has evolved over thousands of years, but the transition from cheap tapestry copies to the elaborate decorative art we see in nearly every home today is the result of one invention, for which each homeowner and wallpaper specialist has a debt of gratitude.

One fact that is often lost is that wallpaper was often sold in sets of sheets, in some cases made up of over 100 sheets at a time, compared to the comparatively small number of rolls and strips that make up modern wallpaper today.

After the return of wallpaper following a ban by Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate, Britain became the leading manufacturer of wallpaper in Europe, which would only intensify as the result of both a revolutionary invention and an actual revolution.

In 1799, right at the tail-end of the French Revolution, Louis-Nicolas Robert in Essonnes developed and received a patent for a paper making machine whilst working for Saint-Léger Didot, a member of the famous Didot family of papermakers and writers.

There were some disputes between Mssrs Didot and Robert about who owned the invention, but what was quickly found is that if they wanted to develop the machine further, they needed financial support from the thriving English paper industry.

John Gamble, Mssr Didot’s brother-in-law, travelled to London to meet with Sealy and Henry Fourdrinier, who financed the project to make “endless” paper strips, which allowed for wallpaper rolls and strips that reached from floor to ceiling to be created.

This “Fourdrinier machine” improved not only the quality and longevity of wallpaper but also the types of endless patterns that could be made and is the core invention that allowed for the wallpaper we use today.