image of graham from doctor who holding bubble wrap which has a weird history where it was also wallpaper Max/BBC Studios

A Failed Wallpaper Experiment Led to Bubble Wrap’s Existence

Originally posted on Nerdist | By Tai Gooden | Last updated Jun 11, 2025 11:32 AM ET

There’s nothing that brings out the inner kid in all of us like bubble wrap. No one can resist squeezing those plastic bubbles until they burst. I particularly like twisting a group of them and creating a symphony of popping. We typically associate the usage of bubble wrap with shipping, as those air bubbles protect fragile materials. But did you know that bubble wrap was created from a failed wallpaper experiment? A video by Lance Geiger of The History Guy breaks down the history behind bubble wrap.

Yes, this video is a bit long, especially with the ads built in. We get it, they got bills to pay. But basically in 1957 there were two inventors named Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes. They wanted to create a three-dimensional, plastic wallpaper. Why?

According to Smithsonian Magazine, they wanted to make wallpaper with texture that would appeal to the Beatniks, who were quite nonconformist, at the time. The duo put two pieces of plastic shower curtain together via a machine that seals using heat. However, they ended up with a piece of plastic that was full of bubbles. What a bummer.

Fielding and Chavannes knew that something could happen with this laminated plastic and tried several things, including testing it for greenhouse insulation. Finally, in 1960, IBM released its big ole (and pioneering) 1401 unit computer, which needed protection during shipping.

This invention, which they dubbed Bubble Wrap, did the trick and kept this massive and clunky computer safe from damages during shipping. And as the people say, the rest was history. Sometimes genius comes from what we think are epic failures. You just gotta try something else.

This article first appeared on Nerdist and was syndicated with permission.

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