Wallpaper Craft: Preserving Intangible Cultural Heritage

More and more intangible cultural heritage (ICH) skills are “entering daily life” through wallpaper: Su embroidery wallpaper is crafted by ICH inheritors using the “random stitch” technique on mulberry silk bases, requiring 20-30 hours of manual work per square meter. It has a delicate and shiny texture, retaining the quality of Su embroidery while solving the problem of traditional embroidery being “prone to snags and hard to maintain” (with a transparent wear-resistant coating on the surface). Miao batik wallpaper adheres to the traditional “beeswax hand-painting + indigo dyeing” process, retaining the mystery of Miao totems in patterns while optimizing color fastness to avoid fading with long-term use; some brands cooperate with Miao villages, employing local craftsmen to produce the wallpaper, contributing to the inheritance of ICH while driving villagers’ income growth. Shadow puppet pattern wallpaper extracts line elements from Shaanxi shadow puppets and restores their three-dimensional sense through the “multi-layer flocking” process. Pasted in foyers and corridors, it can create a unique cultural atmosphere; some models are also matched with lampshades and decorative paintings of the same elements, forming a complete ICH-style home series.