August 2026
The folding screen: mobile architecture
Born in Asia, adopted by European interiors, the folding screen is still the most useful object in a large room.
The folding screen reached Europe with the East India companies, as Coromandel lacquer panels cut apart and remounted. The eighteenth century adopted it to block draughts; the nineteenth turned it into a decorative object in its own right, embroidered, painted or papered.
Technically, everything happens in the hinges. So-called Japanese hinges, made of crossed fabric tape, let the panel fold both ways — a rare and sought-after detail.
In use, a screen structures a room without building work: it hides an awkward door, creates a cloakroom, closes off a corner that is too wide. Against a wall it works like a three-metre painting.
Mind conservation: lacquer fears dryness and radiators, papers fear direct light. A screen is carried folded, never pulled by one panel.
