About Us

parable n. a story told to illustrate a moral

It all started with a chance discovery in 1989 of 1200 American vintage wallpaper printing rollers in a small town in Buckinghamshire. Instinctively recognising the quality and skill to create such intricate design detail, Parable co-founder Nigel Parker set about saving the rollers, already with thoughts in his mind of ways they might be replicated.

Many years later Nigel acquired a further 600 British rollers along with silk screens and Surface Print machinery. Then in 2003, with his partner in life and work Amanda Barry, they moved what had now become an unrivalled collection to Devon and set-up the Parable workshop.

Against the trend of a throwaway age, and with an unswerving passion and guiding aesthetic to do justice to the elegance and craftsmanship of unsung heroes of a forgotten era, they set about preserving the original rollers, researching provenance, and experimenting with production techniques not knowing at that time just how complex and time-consuming they would be.

But they did know it was imperative for Parable products which replicate designs from the wallpaper rollers in relief to be seamless. The research, development and trials demanded precision engineering, complex moulding and difficult casting techniques, taking years to perfect.

Thanks to the help and belief of other British leaders in their field including Frank Burtenshaw, artisan and time served indentured Wallpaper Draughtsman, probably the last of his ilk in the world who shared his knowledge of life in the wallpaper industry from the 1940s to the 1990s; and Karen Beauchamp, Specialist in Wallpaper Design and former Director at Cole & Son (Wallpapers) - Parable is now being acclaimed for their inspiring and alluring collection of seamless objects of desire.

"Parable make the most amazing candles"- Kirstie Allsopp, Channel 4

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris