Domino
18th-century decorative paper
During the Age of the Enlightenment in France, the dominotiers’ guild printed ornate motifs on 35 x 45 cm paper sheets using engraved plates and applying colour with stencils. These decorative sheets of paper were called “dominos”. Coffers, furniture, boxes, small rooms, corridors and alcoves were lined with domino paper, the ancestor of wallpaper. These exquisite papers were also used to bind books and these are today the most frequent illustration of a craft which disappeared at the end of the 18th century.
Antoinette Poisson, was born with the aim of bringing these forgotten 18th-century wallpaper techniques back to life. The label was named after Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour, adopting the middle and maiden names of the 18th-century doyenne of decorative arts. Today the ‘dominos’ are collected and framed individually or pieced together like tiles to cover walls. The flamboyant Rococo patterns rediscovered by the Antoinette Poisson team recently caught the eye of Gucci's creative director Alessandro Michele, leading to a creative collaboration. The designs were used for Gucci's summer resort collection and to adorn the newly refurbished Gucci Wooster boutique in New York.