Staunchly British paint and wallpaper company Little Greene has raided the archives of Manchester’s Whitworth Art Gallery to launch a nostalgic range of 1950s wallpapers. Called Line papers after John Line & Sons, the Southall manufacturer that originally made them, they feel really authentic – a nice change from the mid-century-inspired design that just sticks one of those coloured atomic model balls on everything – some with subtle, washed-out shades that you don’t see very often (apart from, it has to be said, in Little Greene’s own paint ranges). The charming hand-drawing and small-scale prints are a nice alternative to the enormo-graphic prints that are popular at the moment. Oh and the Hampstead Ink one with the different style houses is like an old-school version of a Mini Moderns wallpaper. Spooky. They’re available at the beginning of Feb 2011.
