a tale of renewal
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 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.
Resene Wallpaper Collection MBB01
This Mason Bamboo design uses Resene Rangoon Green and metallic paints Resene Pioneer and Resene Pure Pewter.
Resene Wallpaper Collection MPP05
This Mason Poppies design uses Resene Rice Cake, Resene Toto and metallic paints Resene Bedrock and Resene Gold Dust.
Printing wallpaper is an ancient art. Originally printed by blocks made from fruit tree wood it superseded the previous means of decorating walls – hanging plain paper and illustrating it when in situ.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. Resene continued to expand the original Mason's collection into new designs and colourways.
Resene Wallpaper Collection MT01
This Mason Tosca design uses Resene Half Delta on Resene Rice Cake.
Resene Wallpaper Collection MPP01
This Mason Poppies design uses Resene Nero, Resene White and metallic paints Resene Bedrock and Resene Gold Dust.
The collection was reborn in 2016. Around 20 of the 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, decorators are welcome to choose their own preferences from any of the Resene colour collections. Mason designs are made by carefully screen-printing Resene paints by hand directly onto specialist blank wallpaper paper.
› View the Mason Handcrafted Wallpaper collection at your local Resene ColorShop (selected stores only). Or view the Mason designs and colour ideas online at www.resene.com/mason.
Colours mentioned in this article...
updated November 2024
Habitat plus - wallpaper