What Does a 24-Month Wallpaper Lead Time Mean for Designers?
Last updated: 20 October 2026
In short: 111 Mercer, a new trade-only wallcovering brand from the founders of Tempaper, says it is already working with designers on projects 24 months out. Walls get decided early on long projects. For a designer whose timeline is shorter, or whose room needs a pattern no catalog carries, an artist-designed wallcovering made from an original painting, with custom colorway and scale, is a second answer that sits easily beside the first.
What is 111 Mercer, and why does 24 months matter?
It is a new, trade-only wallcovering brand, and the number is its sales manager's. Business of Home reported on 3 August 2026 that Julia Au and Jennifer Matthews, the sisters behind Tempaper, launched 111 Mercer to sell high-end, traditional non-pasted wallcoverings only to design professionals, through multiline showrooms and its own website. It previewed its first patterns at High Point Market in April, and shipments have started.
Jen Dolan, the brand's national sales manager, told the magazine: "We are also working with designers on projects that are 24 months out." She added, "We understand the project pipelines." (Business of Home)
Why do designers decide walls so early?
Because a wall is part of the shell of a project. On a long build, a hotel, or a house that will not be lived in for two years, the surfaces are chosen while the plans are still drawings. A brand that wants to be specified has to be in the room that early.
For the designer, the cost of that rhythm is time. A pattern chosen two years ahead is a pattern the room has to grow into.
What can a smaller studio offer a trade designer instead?
A shorter path from idea to wall. My wallcoverings are drawn from original paintings, so each pattern begins as one of my canvases. The honest account of the process is that a hand-painted original becomes a printed pattern; the wallcovering itself is printed, not painted by hand. Print-on-demand takes roughly two weeks.
The material is 20 oz Type II commercial-grade vinyl with an embossed face and a slight strié shimmer over a laminated fabric backing. Rolls are 24 inches wide, pre-trimmed and unpasted, with a 52-inch width for commercial work. Custom colorway and scale are available to the trade, and the Trade Program includes trade pricing and up to five free samples.
111 Mercer serves a particular, traditional part of the market. The two answers can sit side by side on a designer's shelf.
What happens when a painting becomes a surface?
It leaves the frame and takes on the room. This spring the Peninsula Hong Kong carried Dr. William Lim's oil painting A Bright Future into a hand-tufted wall tapestry and carpet for its Verandah Café, made with Tai Ping. A pattern drawn from a painting is a close relative of that idea: the image stays singular and the wall becomes its place.
How do you test an artist-designed pattern before specifying it?
Order a sample, hold it in the room's own light, and ask for the colorway or scale that the room needs. The Trade Program is built for that conversation.
→ Browse the collection: Wallpaper collection · For designers: Trade Program · Meet the painter: About Angela
Frequently asked questions
What is 111 Mercer?
111 Mercer is a new trade-only wallcovering brand from Julia Au and Jennifer Matthews, the sisters behind Tempaper. It sells high-end, traditional non-pasted wallcoverings to design professionals through multiline showrooms and its own website, per Business of Home, 3 August 2026.
Why do designers specify wallpaper so far in advance?
On long projects the surfaces are chosen while the plans are still drawings. A 111 Mercer sales manager told Business of Home the brand is already working with designers on projects 24 months out.
Can a designer order custom colorway and scale in an artist-designed wallcovering?
Yes. Custom colorway and scale are available to the trade, with print-on-demand in roughly two weeks and up to five free samples through the Trade Program.
Is this wallpaper hand-painted?
No. Each pattern is drawn from an original painting, and the wallcovering itself is printed on 20 oz Type II commercial-grade vinyl. A hand-painted original becomes a printed pattern.