ABSTRACT
Charles Frederick Bielefeld was a British designer, inventor, and a papier-mache manufacturer. In addition to a variety of wall and ceiling mouldings in various styles, Bielefeld used papier-mache to manufacture complete columns, corbels, ceiling centres and frames for mirrors and pictures. In 1840 Charles Bielefeld noted ‘that Papier-mache is applied to the enriched cornices of bookcases and cabinets, to the mouldings and corners and centre ornaments of panelling [sic] on their doors and sides; to the enriched scroll legs of cabinets and pier tables in the old French style’. Whilst his work was mainly directed at architectural applications, more domestic designs were also being produced on a large scale. Contrivances were resorted to by the masters, which soon supplanted the old mode of working in stucco.
