The work of William Mason, arguably the most important wallpaper designer and manufacturer in New Zealand history, has been brought back to life by Resene. Napier-born and London-trained textile designer Mason lived in Wellington in the 1950s, teaching art and exhibiting paintings. He and his wife Maureen began producing hand-printed textiles, then wallpapers which were eagerly snapped up by homeowners renovating old villas. By 1965, the Masons' work adorned the walls of our embassies worldwide as well as the New Zealand suite in the Hong Kong Hilton hotel. Today, examples are held in prominent galleries and museums including the Alexander Turnbull Library and Te Papa. Printing wallpaper is an ancient art. Originally printed by blocks made from fruit tree wood it superceded the previous means of decorating walls – hanging plain paper and illustrating it when in situ. By the 1950s the ‘screen printing’ technique became more widespread and is the process we are most familiar with today. Wallpaper has been part of the Resene story since the company bought Mason Prints in 1974. The business came complete with the Marion Street building in Wellington which housed the wallpaper showroom and subsequently became the first Resene ColorShop. MBB01 In 2016, Resene commissioned boutique wallpaper producer Ben Masters of PaperHands to recreate Mason designs using Resene paints to screenprint the papers. Martinborough-based PaperHands was formed in 2009 by Ben and Helen Masters in the age-old Kiwi tradition of DIY when the couple couldn't find a suitable product for a renovation project at their own home. They are still the only commercial hand-screeners of wallpaper in the country. Around 20 of the original Mason positives were in good enough condition to consider using, from which eight formed the final selection. While the resulting sample book features selected Resene colour combinations, customers are welcome to specify their own preferences from any of the Resene colour collections. Using paints instead of inks has meant slightly altering the production methods used by PaperHands but the process is fundamentally the same. Specialist blank papers are imported by Aspiring Walls, which also supplies Resene with commercial wallpaper ranges. View the Mason Handcrafted Wallpaper collection at your local Resene ColorShop (selected stores only). Or view the Mason designs and colours online at www.resene.com/mason. a tale of renewal Resene Half Delta 30 | 30 |