Meet the Milwaukee Entrepreneur Reimagining Wallpaper

When Elizabeth Rees started Chasing Paper, her wallpaper, flooring and decor company, she knew she wanted to leverage her family's commercial printing equipment and experience in a new direct-to-consumer way. Over the last decade, what began as a mostly peel-and-stick wallpaper biz has expanded to include a variety of timeless wallpapers, tile decals and wall decor, all from one-of-a-kind collections. You'll never find two that are the same, and that's by Rees' design.

Printing for Chasing Paper has always been done in Wisconsin, where Rees' family owned a printing business, even when she was based in New York. Five years ago, she returned to her hometown of Milwaukee and brought the rest of her business with her. Rees shares her journey and what's changed after a decade in business.

Why did you return to Milwaukee?

I had been living in New York for eight or nine years when I felt a pull to come back to Milwaukee, where I was born and raised. I had always produced the wallpaper there, and being closer to the product and manufacturing was important, but I also thought about what I wanted the future of Chasing Paper to be. A big part of that was Midwestern values and being able to hire Midwestern people.

As a creative growing up in the Midwest, I didn't see a lot of examples of creative jobs and thought I needed to leave the Midwest to find creative work. In New York, I found a lot of other creative entrepreneurs that were really successful, but I thought, now that I have two daughters, how can I come back to the Midwest and create those jobs for other people?

Where do you find inspiration? How do you decide which prints or products to feature?

Collaborations are at the heart of everything we do. We release between four and six collections a year and all of them have a very different point of view, a different story and persona behind them. I think what really anchors Chasing Paper is the idea that each collection talks to a new audience. If you came onto the website six months ago, and then you visit again today, it's going feel different because of new prints, new points of view, new collections, new colorways. That is so inspiring to me.

The best part of my job is getting to work on these collaborations with wildly creative people who range from traditional surface designers to fine artists from all over the world. Culturally, they all have different points of view from the colors they use, the things that they're drawn to, the ideas that they have. In 10 years, no two collections have ever come together in the same way.

How has the company evolved over the last decade?

We really want to create collections that look new and will still feel that way in a year, five years, 10 years. Creating colorways and motifs that hint at something nostalgic or timeless, but done in a fresh way. Not trying to just go into every phase or trend, but making sure we're putting something out into the world that you're going to love for a long time. People want to be more sustainable and you also want it to become a part of your home.

How do you stay relevant?

Our demographic is 25- to 45-year-old women, and so many life changes happen during that time. You move, you get a first job, you have a first apartment, you buy a first house, maybe you have a baby, maybe you find a partner. All of these life changes happen between those 20 years, and we want you to feel really good and confident about creating environments for them.

It's not that you can't change your mind or things can't evolve, but we try to be extremely thoughtful with our collections. There's so much sameness in the world now, and we see so much more with Instagram and social media, it's harder to find things that are unique.

What do you love most about living back in Milwaukee?

We live three blocks from Lake Michigan, and my girls have a yard to play in and the things that were important to my childhood.

Milwaukee has the most beautiful art museum; we are so lucky to have such a spectacular museum right on the lake. I was a member of the Whitney when I was in New York and I think it rivals that. I mean, it's truly unbelievable. I also love downtown, especially the Third Ward area.

What can we expect from Chasing Paper in the future?

We are working on a heritage collection right now, which is a first for us. It's kind of like a core collection, everything that we've learned over the last 10 years from being in the wall covering space. There are some huge wallpaper companies, where I see their wallpaper and I know it's theirs, because they're so iconic. The new heritage collection is our step into that—a signature collection that people will really identify as a Chasing Paper print.

We're also working on partnering with some other best-in-category companies to step out of the wall covering space and potentially put those patterns on other products. So stay tuned!

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.