Our History
The Team
Established in 1994 by Alex Bruce, Bruce Fine Papers has remained a family run company now employing two generations who work together to hand produce this traditional craft product.
Naomi and Alex are the current team behind the company, working together in both business and marriage with their children Ellie and Jake on the production and design team. A small team of 8, Bruce Fine Papers is a bespoke company keeping the traditional craft of Hand Block Printing alive here in the UK.
The Business
We supply a range of leading wallpaper companies alongside both English Heritage and National Trust, often drawing upon historic design as well as our own original, more contemporary design to suit a variety of interiors. Every aspect of our process is handmade, from the original drawing to the hand print and as a result we are able to tailor make our process for every client offering custom colourways and a personal touch.
A wallpaper process that has its roots deeply entwined with British design and manufacturing history, and one that we are very proud to still hand make here in the UK.
The Wallpaper
Hand Block Printing is possibly the oldest printing technique in the world with the oldest known surviving block prints found in Egypt and dated to the 9th Century.
Paper didn’t reach Europe until the 12th Century, despite being invented in China hundreds of years prior, and it wasn’t for another 200 years that it was printed upon with wallpaper laboriously hand painted until the 16th Century. Britain was one of the first countries to employ the hand block printing technique specifically for wallpaper after adapting the process from Chinese and Indian textile production of the time.
The first printed wallpapers were produced as an alternative to the tapestries and wall hangings that came before them and were printed in monochrome carbon ink with colour brushed onto the design by hand afterwards, if it was required. The very earliest designs were Damasks which reflected the popular Chinese Silk Damasks that were trading amongst the wealthy in Europe. Wallpaper was also a commodity for the wealthy in the beginning with the printing technique being a highly skilled and laborious process.
By the 18th Century Britain was the leading wallpaper manufacturer in Europe and wallpaper was hand produced this way using the same hand block printing techniques that we use in our process today right up until 1840. At this time wallpaper was very available to the masses and was an important part of home decor used almost everywhere with practically every design style you could think of being printed.