Artists and makers: David Skinner Wallpapers
David Skinner is a wallpaper maker, researcher and conservator living in Dublin and County Leitrim, Ireland. David Skinner Wallpapers, established in 1990, makes hand screen-printed wallpapers based on historic Irish examples, supplying customers in Ireland, the U.K., Europe and the U.S.A.
David’s work over the past thirty years has been informed by continuous research into the history of the Irish wallpaper trade. Surveying historic buildings, retrieving examples of historic paper and undertaking conservation of historic papers have been major components of the studio’s practice, resulting in 2014 in the publication of ‘Wallpaper in Ireland 1700-1900’ (Churchill House Press), a richly illustrated 60,000 word survey of the subject.
In 2020 David donated his collection of around 300 pieces of historic wallpaper from Irish houses to the Office of Public Works. A permanent exhibition of selected items from the collection will be displayed in Kilkenny Castle, with a planned opening in 2021.