A Brief History of the Folding Screen: From Han Dynasty China to UK Studios

The folding screen is the oldest portable architecture still in everyday use, and Furniture in Fashion traces it from Han dynasty China to the studio flats and shared houses where it has found new work. Our history follows the shift from single rigid panels placed behind a seat of authority to the hinged multi panel form that stands unaided, the Japanese byōbu whose name translates as wind wall, the lacquer screens that reached Europe through East Indies trade and acquired the Coromandel label from a shipping route, and the modernist reinvention of the screen by designers including Eileen Gray in the 1920s. The report closes with practical guidance for British homes: screen heights and panel counts by purpose, the angle that keeps a screen stable, and why slatted or woven panels usually beat solid ones in small single aspect rooms....