1940s Korean Vintage Wallpaper — Soonae (original)

Soonae was discovered in an early 1940s hanok near Byeongyeongseong Fortress in Gangjin County, South Jeolla Province, and dates to 1943–44. The original survives in partial form: the organic red and green floral pigments have oxidized and disappeared over time, leaving only the woven-grid background and the tonal shadow of the overall pattern. What we have is the structural memory of the wallpaper — the negative print of what was once there. The defining technique is textile imitation: before the floral motifs were printed, a fine grid imitating canvas, linen, or rough bast fabric was laid down as background, creating the illusion that the finished wall was hung with tapestry or needlepoint embroidery. This approach was standard in British wallpaper manufacturing from the 1910s through 1930s, part of the international tapestry-style that William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement had made fashionable — and that industrial surface printing then carried into mass-market production across Britain and Scandinavia. Two routes likely brought this design to Gangjin: either via Japanese manufacturers who actively reproduced British-style wallpaper for the colonial Korean market, or through direct trade — Byeongyeongseong was historically a commercial hub, and its merchant class had means to source imported goods from Gyeongseong or Japan. GOSATE’s reproduction digitally restores the original pattern — reconstructing the floral layer that time erased — printed on premium non-woven base paper manufactured in Sweden.   Roll size : 50cm by 10M Material : Non-woven paper Made in Sweden, Designed in Korea