Silk Wallpaper, Chinese Silk Wallpaper, Hand Painted silk wallpaper, Chinese wallpaper

Hand Painted Silk Wallpaper Introduction

For over a thousand years the Chinese have painted beautiful creations onto silk. During the Tang dynasty scholars and artists would paint onto silk and stretch their work over a screen, and this practice developed later into wallpaper. By the mid Qing dynasty silk painted wallpaper was installed in the imperial palace in Beijing and was quickly taken up by the Europeans, obsessed with all things Chinese as the country opened up in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Shimu now works with a leading supplier of silk wallpaper in China to bring this exquisite product into UK homes at a more affordable price. Each creation is made to order to a design, size and colour scheme agreed with you the customer, so that every resulting work is as unique as it is beautiful.

We can also produce silk painted screens, each individually painted and produced to your specifications. These can be used as room dividers or placed against a wall to provide a beautiful alternative to wallpaper, with the added benefit that you can take them with you if you move.

The process

We first provide a range of silk colours to choose as a background. Select from subtle greens, creams and yellows, to more dramatic reds and blacks, or for a truly luxurious finish silks brushed with gold or silver are available. The coloured silk is under laid with rice paper ready to be painted.

We then discuss the elements that you would like to see in the finished design. Popular choices include flowers such as roses or cherry blossom, bamboo, birds and butterflies, and we will be happy to send samples of previous wallpapers to provide you with ideas. Once this is agreed the workshop in China will produce a black and white sketch to show the proposed design, scaled to match the dimensions of the space where your wallpaper will be installed.

Once you are happy with the design we require a 50% deposit and the workshop will proceed to create your unique wallpaper. We will send you photographs of the finished creation before it leaves China and delivery from the workshop to your door will then normally be within three weeks. The wallpaper is produced in strips rather than rolls, and is delivered with the original sketch so that your installer can easily fit the finished design.

Installation

We highly recommend that you employ an installer with experience in working with silk wallpaper to hang your finished design as we cannot be held responsible for any problems that may arise during the hanging process. We do not offer an installation service ourselves but would be happy to put you in touch with a suitable tradesman in your area. For further details please contact us on 0844 4128008.