The great wallpaper designer of the French Revolution

The great wallpaper designer of the French Revolution

Jean-Baptiste Réveillon is considered to be a historical wallpaper designer during the French Revolution. His story is an epitome of a self made businessman. The biography of Jean-Baptiste Réveillon is one of the stories that is nice to know because of the lessons we will learn from it.

The inspiring life of Jean-Baptiste Réveillon

Jean-Baptiste Réveillon was born in 1725 in Paris, France. His career has been considered to be an exemplar of a self made businessman. Before being a successful businessman in the wallpaper industry, he first had working experiences as a tradesman, haberdasher and stationer. In 1753, wallpaper was becoming to be popular among the bourgeoisie as a way to decorate their home interiors without spending that much. Seeing this need of the class, Réveillon then started importing and hanging flock wallpapers from England. During the Seven Years War, he then started creating wallpaper. During that time he produced velvet paper, pasted them into rolls and used vibrant colors to make them attractive.

It was in 1759, when Réveillon moved to Faubourg Saint-Antoine that the wallpaper production was in full scale. The produced wallpapers were adored by the nobles and they patronized Réveillon products. His wealth was invested later on to purchase a mansion wherein he transformed the ground floor into a wallpaper factory. Yet he retained the upper stories as his residence.

Since the business requires paper as a raw material, he then opened a paper mill to improve the quantity and the quality of the supply of paper. After which, his next step was to open a shop near the Tuileries. The papier bleu d'Angleterre which Réveillon designed, became so popular that even Queen Marie Antoinette decorated the apartment with the said wallpaper. Réveillon even did research to further improve his products. He likewise discovered new process in making vellum paper, and in 1783, he was granted to use the title of Manufacture Royale. When he and his family migrated to England during the Réveillon riot, he leased his manufacture to Jacquemart and Benard who continued the industry until 1840.

Réveillon Riot

In 1789, Réveillon wrote an essay about economics and the economic situation of the country. He said “Since bread was the foundation of our national economy, its distribution should be deregulated, permitting lower prices. That in turn would allow lower wage costs, lower manufacturing prices and brisk consumption.” This essay was misinterpreted by many individuals. Just like in any rumors, story has been added and deleted creating a slightly different connotation of the story. Parisian workers than became angry of the said advocacy of Réveillon, that they gathered in the city to march and protest. These protest eventually became riots and the mob marched to Réveillon’s estate and attempted to destroy the home and the factory. This caused the death of about 25 individuals, injuries and destruction of property.

This is what happens to unconfirmed statements. The statement of Réveillon was simply about the inflating price of bread and not about the wages. However, since it was put into the wrong context, it sounded like Réveillon was complaining about the wage levels. The winter of 1789 has been a curse to the working class of Paris. The poor harvest they have pushed them to increase the price of bread. A simple supply and demand application. The earnings they are receiving then were just enough to buy a daily loaf of bread.

The riots were crushed by the French guards so that it will not happen at bigger scale.