Graham and Brown was started by two dear friends, Harold Graham and Henry Brown in 1946. With the severe shortage of paper following the War, Henry and Harold cleverly procured a large supply of surplus metallic paper, an eight-color surface printer and a new embossing machine, with which the two men began a wallpaper revolution. The public, desperate for things to help brighten up their homes following the hard years of war, snapped it up so fast Graham and Brown could barely meet demand.
At the heart of Graham and Brown lies a solid respect for its employees, customers and environment, which owes much to Henry Brown’s personal approach to business. Henry ensured his workers were well looked after in times of trouble or illness. Over time, new ideas in wallpaper were introduced like washable vinyl wallcoverings, the now famous Superfresco brand of wallpaper which could be painted or washed, pre-pasted products, ‘batchless’ wallcoverings and ‘paste the wall’ technology.
New associations were forged with designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen who was quickly followed by Linda Barker, hemingwaydesign, Julien MacDonald, Jans des Bouvrie and most recently Marcel Wanders. Today, Graham and Brown operates internationally with divisions in Great Britian, the United States, France, Holland, Russia, Canada, China, and Germany. Innovation of thought and action has seen the company drive the industry from the doldrums into growth, but when you’ve been around this long, you always take the long term view.
