Stretch ceilings have reached great popularity as a relatively new element of interior architecture. Few people know, however, that they were already used in antiquity. In Greece and Rome, expensive fabrics such as silk were pleated and arranged to create the impression of a light, airy ceiling. In Egypt and Armenia, cotton fabric was soaked in various aqueous solutions containing lime salts to give the ceiling greater flexibility during installation and greater strength after drying.
The closest prototype of today’s stretch ceiling appeared in 1967, shortly after PVC film was synthesised in the early 1960s. It became widespread in Western Europe. It was most often installed in apartments and offices where defects in the original ceiling were difficult to remove: these imperfections could be effectively concealed beneath the perfectly smooth surface of PVC film. In such cases it replaced suspended ceilings because it required far fewer supporting materials and was easy to install.
PVC ceilings were particularly appreciated in France, a country associated with refined taste, which later became the best-known producer of stretch ceilings. The French gradually improved the manufacturing process and the composition of the polyvinyl chloride film; the original article describes its formula as strictly secret.
Stretch ceilings are also manufactured in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, China and Japan, and are highly valued around the world for their aesthetic and practical qualities.