William (Bill) Mason was born in Napier in 1919 and was a well-known artist designing patterns for Wellington based Ashley Wallpapers before establishing Mason Handprints. Bill and his wife Maureen developed and designed the classic dynamic motifs epitomised by the stunning Tosca patterns and perfectly balanced imagery. He made the screens used in the hand printing process and created beautiful repetitious patterns that were characterised by the striking use of colour.

The resulting wallpapers were glamorous, alluring and quite simply beautiful. Bill's innovative use of colour led to international acclaim and became highly sought after in New Zealand and Australia.

Mason Handprints relocated the print and design workshop to Wairarapa and established a showroom in Wellington's Marion Street, which later became the first Resene ColorShop. Bill began to experiment with paint rather than printer dyes and inks. This led to a successful collaboration with Resene. As Bill neared retirement, he sold his business to his friend Tony Nightingale of Resene.

The business operated successfully for a number of years, but eventually fashion and décor changed and wallpaper fell out of favour.

Times have changed and with the advance of new paint technologies and a wide-ranging and exciting Resene colour palette, which includes Resene metallic finishes, the Mason range has been reborn.

The new collection honours the spirit and integrity of Bill's artistry bringing together his design, the craftsmanship of the traditional screen printing technologies and handpicked Resene colours. As well as the standard collection, as the wallpaper is handmade to order, colour selections can be customised using a choice of Resene colours.