Linoleum flooring is cool, actually

Key Takeaways

[Music] it's plasticky sticky shiny often in a weird pattern or totally bland you've seen linoleum it's probably in your high school hallway in your closest airport and hospital or maybe it's in your grandma's kitchen at the very least you can find it on home renovation television there might be something beautiful but there might not but there's a good chance there's not much so still holding on to that 70s vibe this linoleum has to go linoleum gets a bad rap but it wasn't always that way linoleum was once the stuff of dreams an exciting beautiful innovation in flooring technology so what happened [Music] one day in 1855 a delightfully mustache inventor named frederick walton was gazing upon a humble jar of oil paint he noticed settled on top of the jar was a thick stretchy layer of material it was linseed oil the paint's main ingredient that had oxidized and this attracted my attention i know all about this from his 1925 memoir it's very out of print but luckily the new york public library has a slightly decrepit copy in it walton reflects in great detail on his 90 odd year life including his quote boyish activities i was living in comparative luxury i say comparative because we had few friends but no dinner parties dances etc impressions of the american climate the summer weather was delightful except for the extreme heat and visits to a psychic he said he would put his wife into a trance but mostly he wrote about his work walton fancied himself an inventor and this odd substance inspired him he tried using it as a varnish and a waterproofing material but it never dried properly but was always sticky however i was not disheartened eventually he tried combining the dried bits of goop with cork dust sticky gum pigment then rolled it all out into sheets backed by cotton cloth it worked he created a new type of flooring in rapid succession he filed a patent named his invention linoleum a combination of the latin words for oil and flax founded a company to manufacture it and began a mad men level marketing blitz to promote it advertisements which ran nearly every day in london's papers and were plastered at every train station touted its many advantages linoleum was warm and noiseless which gave it an advantage over wood or marble and it was waterproof flexible and durable which made it far superior to earlier floor cloths which were basically just thickly painted pieces of fabric they protected your floor sure but they smelled weird they were cold underfoot and they wore out pretty fast linoleum was kind of a miracle flooring it was durable easy to make supposedly antibacterial and could be mixed and remixed into any number of beautiful patterns within a few years it was an international hit walton even built an entire town on new york staten island devoted to manufacturing it called predictably linoleumville and much to walton chagrin competitors popped up all over the world eventually overtaking him in popularity linoleum was considered luxurious the modern refined choice it was all over the titanic in fact it still is even as the ship wastes away a few thousand feet underwater the linoleum looks pretty good over time linoleum just got better more durable more vibrant cheaper by the 50s linoleum or lino its jaunty nickname came in a massive array of patterns like hundreds faux marble faux wood checks squiggles stars stripes florals these cute little mondrian looking square things who could resist these colorful patterns the lady knows what she wants as it became more popular it became more accessible just cut it right off the enormous roll and bring it home and as countless ads mentioned install it yourself it was everywhere homes schools shops the perfect fit for anywhere high traffic because it was so resilient and easy to clean but all that ubiquity kind of backfired linoleum started to be seen as tacky cheap that durability backfired too patterns that fell out of style stuck around and started to look dated companies that used to focus on linoleum also pivoted to new options like vinyl which was cheaper and didn't require wax to stay shiny linoleum did enjoy a second wind in print making and as a break dancing surface but alongside wood paneling and those weird glass blocks it fell way out of fashion until recently because seemingly against all odds linoleum is making a comeback it's featured on instagram's favorite table and in a variety of trendy cafes hotels shops and homes from copenhagen to new york not to mention this exceptionally cool estonian kindergarten people are loving linoleum for all of the same reasons they used to but there's one benefit walton didn't anticipate linoleum is also really eco-friendly it's still made with roughly the same materials as walton's first version almost entirely renewable resources you can technically eat it though you really shouldn't so before you start thinking about ripping up that old linoleum in your bathroom maybe give it a second thought [Music] if you wish to learn more about my invention please explore pamela h simpson's work her articles linoleum handling crusta the democratic coverings for floors and walls and comfortable durable and decorative linoleum's rise and fall from grace are both exceptionally well researched and full of interesting bits like a detailed description of my other very important invention lincrasta i hear that it is still found today in a variety of famous homes both articles are linked below thank you for watching