This is how it started…

Tonka Papers started out of a love for pattern design and an interest in all the possibilities that have come within wallpaper design with technological development. I moved house and I think it was hugely exciting and fun to have to choose wallpaper for the whole house. But all the wallpapers I fell in love with cost a fortune. I started reading a lot about wallpaper and I became a bit obsessed. I thought I should be able to create my own, I work in painting and interior design. I knew that with digital printing you can reproduce painterly effects that have otherwise not been possible before. Traditional wallpaper printing on rolls is very extensive, expensive and limits color selection and expression. With a background as a visual artist, it was incredibly exciting to discover all the techniques I could reproduce on wallpaper. Digital paintings, gouache, watercolor, oil, pastel powder, varnish, pencil drawings, etc., I could experiment with it all after investing in some different equipment. I could give each pattern a completely unique expression.

The first wallpaper

With the help of Canon and a local, specialist printing company, I started the production of wallpaper. With our production method, it was also possible to create all wallpapers made-to-measure. That is, adapted to the walls where they are to be installed. Instead of buying lots of rolls of wallpaper, where irregular walls and pattern repeats can be up to 40% waste wallpaper, we can print and cut wallpaper in panels. They have 5-10 cm extra at the top and bottom, as all walls curve slightly and therefore have irregularities. Thereby you avoid both having to worry about floor space or huge work tables for having to cut the wallpaper. You don't have to worry about repeating patterns. They are just ready to hang when the glue is smeared on the wall.

Development of a new wallpaper concept - wall painting for the home

After taking down a lot of old wallpaper and reinstalling new wallpaper on old, curved and slightly damaged walls, I got a little tired of it. In some cases it was really demanding work that caused problems and frustrations, it got dirty, I had to use chemicals or was just smeared in dissolved glue from the old wallpapers. I thought there must be an even smarter way to create beautiful and interesting walls - maybe even completely unique walls. A way to decorate that didn't have to be so difficult that it would take me months of running, saving, thinking and planning. A way in which I could achieve full freedom and flexibility in relation to installation and it had to be practical and with an impressive result! Preferably also without ugly wallpaper collections, because they can ruin even the most beautiful wallpapers. I dreamed of beautiful murals and the exclusive hand-painted wallpapers from small modern wallpaper houses and the impressive, traditional hand-painted wallpapers from China.

Wallpaper for rental property

I continued to experiment and, with the help of my wallpaper supplier, found the perfect substrate. A self-adhesive wallpaper, with glue that leaves no traces and a fine textile surface. So now I could avoid liquid glue, chemicals and a huge cleaning job after installation. I could now also meet the demand for wallpaper for rented apartments, as my material does not damage walls and the glue is not permanent.

The idea of ​​avoiding even more waste of wallpaper and achieving the ultimate freedom in relation to the placement of motifs led me to cut out the wallpapers.
In my workshop I paint the wallpaper and then cut it out.