The Bubble Wrap On Your Parcels Was Invented To Be Wallpaper

The most satisfying packaging on Earth started life as a total commercial flop.

Bubble wrap is the undisputed champion of stress relief, but the inventors never set out to protect your fragile parcels. They were trying to sell you wallpaper.

The idea was to seal two shower curtains together with air trapped inside, creating a textured, three-dimensional wall covering that would be the height of modern style.

Unsurprisingly, almost nobody wanted bumpy plastic on their living room walls, and the product went nowhere. The inventors were left with a warehouse of a solution looking for a problem.

Then someone realised all those trapped air pockets were brilliant at cushioning delicate items in transit. A failed decorating trend quietly became one of the most popular packing materials on the planet.