WallpaperNews

As America’s oldest and largest wallpaper manufacturer, York Wallcoverings runs modern print presses alongside Surface presses dating to 1895, the year of York’s founding. The oldest form of machine printing, Surface designs “print wet and dry slowly, giving graphic patterns like Espalier (above) such softness and life,” says Ronald Redding, Design VP at York Wallcoverings.
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As the only U.S. wallpaper company to still own and operate Surface presses, York has saved Surface printing from obsolescence. The company’s five presses are tended with great care, and replacement parts are found through a single source in England, the birthplace of Surface printing.

Beating a path to York’s door in historic York, PA is a new generation of designers that has discovered Surface prints’ painterly allure, and in turn established the company as a best-kept secret to leading home furnishings firms worldwide.

A true labor of love, Surface printing requires the expertise of craftsmen who hone their skills the old-fashioned way: Through on-the-job apprenticeships. A craftsman’s eye for color becomes so keen he can precisely match a 12-color wallpaper to its original artwork in a single try; then mix each pigment by hand, unaided by a computer.

Luke Mathison, a craftsman printer who has for three decades coaxed York’s century-old Surface print machines to run innovative new papers and inks, says “I’m learning new things every day.” That wisdom manifests in uncommonly beautiful wallpapers - some even in black and white.