History
Was bubble wrap invented as wallpaper?
The short answer
Yes. In 1957 Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed two shower curtains together, trapping air bubbles between them, and tried to sell it as textured three-dimensional wallpaper. Nobody wanted it. Packaging was the third idea, not the first.
The original pitch was a wall covering with a bubbled, three-dimensional texture. It was 1957, and it turned out that nobody wanted bubbles on their walls. Not a single customer.
Attempt two was greenhouse insulation, which also went nowhere. The pair founded Sealed Air in 1960 anyway, still holding a product without a purpose.
The rescue came from IBM. The company had just launched an early computer and needed a way to ship a delicate machine without destroying it. Fielding and Chavannes suggested their failed wallpaper. It worked better than anyone expected, and the material found the job it has held ever since — plus a second, unpaid career as the most satisfying object in any parcel.
Source
- The Accidental Invention of Bubble WrapSmithsonian Magazine