Do I show my age if I disclose that my main point of reference for "vinyl" is the old, cumbersome circular things we used to call records? In fact, I've got a collection of 90 or so not 15 feet from where I write. But manufacturer Èletis has a surprising and enlightening new use for the material, as the visually and texturally compelling Azzurro Wallpaper.

Azzurro Wallpaper. Designed and Manufactured by Èletis.

Azzurro Wallpaper by Èletis Brings Vinyl to Life with Exotic Patterns and Colorful Prints

From a distance, the Azzurro Collection might actually appear to be made of woven linen, such is its intricacy and palpable tactility. Any one of the more than 40 designs positively begs to reach out and be touched.

And the exotic nature of the prints might suggest linen as well, evoking, as they do, a sense of the bygone days of colonial Britain. But this is a new era and it takes a wise use of an old reliable material to create the dazzling reproductions of Azzurro.

This vinyl wallpaper on an unwoven backing comes in rolls of 10 x .7 M., sufficient dimensions to adorn the walls of an Italian villa or a Bombay flat. Each design in the Azzurro collection plays with shadow and light. There are vibrant purples dazzled by streaks of white; a dizzying and dazzling masala of reds, yellows, blacks, blues, and greens; and, my favorite, a burnished blend of earthy browns, burnt oranges, and floral yellows-evoking, ever so subtly, the wondrous striations of a Bengal tiger's stripes.

About the Manufacturer: Èletis was established in 1988 when the company's founders perceived a niche just ready and waiting to be filled: "colorful and innovative wallpapers which we felt were missing." The company's product line thus includes the fanciful and the fantastic-everything from stripes and geometrics to patterns and solids, in all the colors of the rainbow and many more besides: "Our strong passion and distinct look are recognized worldwide and this has allowed us to develop rapidly."