How Tajiri Found Himself Designing Wallpaper

In 1951, Shinkichi Tajiri’s GI Bill expired, leaving him in a difficult financial situation. That same year, he presented his sculptures in a solo exhibition at the Parnass Gallery in Wuppertal, where he met Jupp Ernst, the director of the Wuppertal Werkkunstschule. Ernst invited him to be a guest lecturer in form theory and sculpture. To make a living, Tajiri accepted the offer.

However, due to prior commitments in Paris, he arrived in Wuppertal later than planned. When he showed up unexpectedly, Ernst seemed to have forgotten about him, and no funds had been set aside to accommodate him. A new arrangement was made. Ernst contacted Emile Rasch of Rasch Tapetenfabrik, which had launched its Rasch Artists’ Wallpapers series in 1950. Tajiri was commissioned to design wallpapers for the company in exchange for financial support, allowing him to continue giving guest lectures at the Werkkunstschule.

Shinkichi designing wallpapers, Bramsche, 1952

Shinkichi and Ferdi perusing the wallaper Paris, 1953

left: Shinkichi Tajiri designing wallpapers, Bramsche, 1952 / right: Shinkichi Tajiri and Ferdi perusing the wallaper Paris, 1953

Local newspaper articles from that time describe how Tajiri stood out in the small village of Bramsche. People were fascinated by his background and curious about what had brought him there. In a 2022 essay, Burckhard Kiesselbach, archivist at Rasch Tapetenfabrik, referred to a 1951 article describing how Tajiri’s foreign appearance captured the imagination of both locals and journalists. Tajiri himself once remarked, “All the people stare at me curiously, but they are all very nice to me.”

An article from 1951 in the Neue Tagespost (Bramsche) reported that the factory was enthusiastic about Tajiri’s first designs and believed his work would have an “extraordinarily stimulating effect on the development of new patterns.” In another article a few months later, Tajiri commented that the work at Rasch had made a deep impression on him: “I have never seen anything like it!” He considered German modern wallpaper designs to be “the best in Europe.”

Paris wallpaper, Rasch-KÜNSTLER-Tapeten, 1952, Tapetenfabrik Gebr. Rasch GmbH & co. KG

Lousiana wallpaper, Rasch-KÜNSTLER-Tapeten, 1954, Tapetenfabrik Gebr. Rasch GmbH & co. KG

left: Paris wallpaper, Rasch-KÜNSTLER-Tapeten, 1952, Tapetenfabrik Gebr. Rasch GmbH & co. KG

right: Lousiana wallpaper, Rasch-KÜNSTLER-Tapeten, 1954, Tapetenfabrik Gebr. Rasch GmbH & co. KG

Over the next couple of years, Tajiri commuted regularly between Wuppertal, Bramsche, and Paris. In 1953, he visited the factory with Ferdi, and later that year his Paris design won first prize for Best German Wallpaper at the International Wallpaper Exhibition in Darmstadt. He was offered the position of head designer at Rasch Tapetenfabrik, but he declined, choosing instead to devote himself entirely to sculpture.