How a Failed Wallpaper Triggered a Packaging Revolution

Bubble Wrap is found everywhere, used to protect packaged materials and to relieve nerves when you’re bored and start popping it. But, like many inventions, its original purpose was quite different—it was meant to be a decorative, textured wallpaper appealing to the Beat Generation in the 1950s.

In 1957, engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes had the idea of sealing two plastic sheets together and trapping air inside to create what they envisioned as a futuristic, padded wall covering. They ran two pieces of plastic shower curtain through a heat-sealing machine but were initially disappointed by the result: a sheet of film filled with trapped air bubbles.

Undeterred, they started brainstorming alternative uses for this new air bubble film, generating more than 400 ideas. After several failed attempts, including testing it for greenhouse insulation, they finally found its first use case. IBM needed a way to protect its delicate computers during transit, and Bubble Wrap proved to be the perfect solution for safeguarding fragile items during shipping.

In 1960, they co-founded the Sealed Air Corporation, and soon, Bubble Wrap moved beyond IBM to become a staple of the packaging industry. Bubble Wrap serves as a contrary example to the standard advice of building a product to meet a need—here, the need was discovered after the product was invented.

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