SHINKICHI TAJIRI

WALLPAPERS

"” - Shinkichi Tajiri

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In 1951, when his GI Bill expired, Shinkichi Tajiri found himself 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, and Tajiri accepted the offer to make a living. 

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 guest lecturing at the Werkkunstschule.
 

For the next few years, Tajiri commuted between Wuppertal, Bramsche, and Paris. At the 1953 International Wallpaper Exhibition in Darmstadt, his Paris design won first prize for Best German Wallpaper. Although he was offered the position of head designer at Rasch Tapetenfabrik, he declined, choosing instead to focus entirely on his sculptures.

In the 1970s, Shinkichi returned to wallpaper design, printing his own patterns on his X-press in Baarlo. He covered the walls of his home, Castle Scheres, with his distinctive designs.
  

photo above: Shinkichi Tajiri in the Rasch Studio, Bramsche Germany, 1952