Naturally, these new wallpapers imitated wealthier coverings: tapestries through flocked “tontisse” techniques, damasks, lampas and brocades via multi-block coloured printing. Yet wallpaper makers did not simply copy existing designs; they had expert designers—the same as for silks and printed textiles—capable of original creations. But as wallpaper was essentially an art of imitation, intended to offer an affordable alternative to silk, it was Lyonnais fabric patterns that often inspired this accessible décor.
Indeed, even Lyon’s most renowned silk manufacturer, Camille Pernon, established his own wallpaper manufactory around 1800—a fact largely overlooked by his biographers. Wallpaper was also closely linked to printed cottons (indiennes): the Mulhouse manufactories founded the Rixheim plant (1797), which, under Zuber’s direction, became one of France’s foremost producers. It is likely that woodblocks were shared between textile and wallpaper works, though this remains unproven.
Thus, Lyon, with its school of industrial drawing and its cadre of in-house designers, played a major role in wallpaper’s industrial history—reaching a remarkable level of perfection. Outstanding arabesque panels from around 1780, attributed to Réveillon, bear the mark of Lyonnais Ferrouillat. Moreover, it was from Camille Pernon’s Lyon workshop that the invention of “embroidered linon wallpaper” emerged, highly fashionable under the Empire, Restoration, and even July Monarchy periods.
Unfortunately, documentation is scarce for Lyon’s pre-Revolution wallpaper workshops. We know little about Foy or Roche, only mentioned in Nancy Mac Clelland’s History of Wallpaper, nor whether the merchant Lecomte began production in Lyon before relocating to Paris, where his widow later advertised velvet-like “tontisse” paper imitating silk fabrics. These papers, featuring motifs of roses, bouquets, ribbons, and chinoiseries, were sold in literary reviews and protected against insects. Prices ranged from 25 to 45 sols per aune, depending on pattern.
Despite publicised Academy of Sciences approval in 1770, this business disappears from records; likewise, Lyonnais merchant Antonin Girard is known solely through his catalogue of “furniture papers imitating Chinese, English and Damascus paper, with arabesque ornaments.” Ferrouillat was not just a manufacturer but a skilled practitioner—his signed work seen in several antique shops. He likely ceased activity around 1785, as François-Marie Chenavard later claimed to found Lyon’s oldest known wallpaper factory, established circa 1785 at Les Brotteaux. Employing around 200 workers, Chenavard’s factory was valued at over 200,000 francs before its destruction in 1793, later rebuilt and known for “muslin” and embroidered batiste wallpapers—though these innovations were rapidly copied by Paris competitors.
Other Lyon-area workshops, including those at Saint-Genis-Laval (founded by Richoud during the Revolution) and successors like Dumas-Richoud, Pignet, Guichard, Monneret, and others, contributed to the city’s legacy into the 19th century. Especially notable were grand panoramic decorations rewarded at industrial exhibitions. Yet, after thriving in the early 1800s, most of these manufactories disappeared from records by mid-century, their achievements awaiting further archival research.
This “stepbrother” of the silk industry—sharing its decorative vocabulary at least—truly merits greater recognition in the history of French interior art.