It was through Hiram Manning, of Boston, that the art of découpage was “discovered” and brought to the United States. Around 1928 he and his mother, Maybelle Manning, a renowned fashion designer, courtier and widely read magazine columnist, were invited to a friend’s home in Normandy. The friend was a schoolmate that Hiram met while studying in Switzerland. The host family were découpeurs, a family hobby for generations. Maybelle Manning was collecting old Venetian furniture, and they were astonished to find what they thought was “painted” Venetian furniture was really covered with cut and colored paper, glued on and lacquered.

In his book, Manning on Déoupage, Manning writes that they “had retained all the original techniques and formulas for glue, protective varnish, etc. exactly as used in the 18th Century. This family offered to teach us all they knew provided we would agree to pass it on and not let it die. I was like a piece of blotting paper, absorbing all that our Norman friends could teach.” World War II came, and the Mannings lost their Normandy friends. The Mannings then knew it was up to them to carry on the “priceless heritage bequeathed to us.”

And so, the Mannings introduced découpage to the United States. The Hiram Manning home was a museum itself, housing their incomparable découpage with its very classic design. Teachings of découpage techniques spread from the Mannings to their students, and their student’s students. While the Mannings were more interested in the use of black and white prints which they hand-colored with oil pencils the ‘Victorian découapge; made use of pre-colored pictures. Contemporary découpage makes use of all kinds of prints and papers, ranging from gift cards to wrapping papers, and for the more enthusiastic, creatively cut designs from plain paper stock, or papers which have been marbleized, grained or stained using anything from paints to dyes.

Styles of découpage furniture actually refer to styles of the prints used. The eras of engravings and etchings and the popularity of decorated furniture range from Baroque and Classic to Rococo, Chinoiserie, Biedermeir, Victorian and so on, from the 17th through the 19th Century.

It was not until the 1960’s that découpage began to spread across the United States, limited in its growth only by the number of qualified teachers available. During that period a group of découpeurs met in Little Rock, Arkansas to discuss the possibility of a United States Guild for interested découpeurs. The National Guild of Découpeurs formed in 1970 in Louisville, Kentucky, with Hiram Manning present to lend his considerable knowledge. Standards of découpage were established and the first Annual Meeting, Convention and National Exhibition was held in Chicago in 1973.