Wallpaper

This wallpaper design features elves fishing, riding a turtle, engaging with squirrels, birds and snails. It would have decorated a young child's bedroom in the 1950s. Elves have been popular magical creatures in folklore for centuries.

The design was from the 'Lancastria Line' of wallpapers manufactured in England by Wall Paper Manufacturers Ltd. These papers were made for export primarily to the United States (with some sent to Australia), and featured dramatic patterns and bold colours to suit American tastes. This particular roll made it to New Zealand and was hung by Wellington house decorator Ray Weeber.

Ray and his father Gordon worked independently as interior decorators in Wellington during much of the twentieth century. Gordon Weeber started the business around 1919, and it was carried on by his son Ray into the 1970s. The colourful and attractive designs of the wallpapers belie the hours of hard graft in gluing and hanging them, at times perched on ladders and planks.

Wallpaper had been popular in New Zealand homes since the nineteenth century, but increased in availability and colourful design in the 1950s. Papers were both imported and made in New Zealand, with locally-made papers becoming increasingly available in the 1960s. Wallpaper was either installed by experienced decorators such as the Weebers, or as DIY (do-it-yourself) projects.