You may have heard mathematicians say that there are only 17 types of wallpaper. Which is a shorthand way of saying, if you print a repeating pattern, it will definitely have 1 of only 17 possible symmetry groups. A symmetry is a property of the print that means if you reflect it in an appropriately placed mirror, it will look the same. Reflection is only one type of symmetry though. The others are translation, rotation, and glide reflection (a reflection with a shift along). There are only 17 possible ways to uniquely combine these symmetries into groups. And although these groups are called the wallpaper groups, they apply just as well to tiles, carpets and... wrapping paper! Thanks to mathematician and designer Edmund Harriss (maxwelldemon.com) you can now wrap your gifts in every possible type of wrapping paper there is. You can get either a pack of 3 all the same or a pack of all 17. Each sheet is 50x70cm 100gsm gloss. Price for pack of 3 = p70 pence = £3.49 Price for pack of 17 = p211 pence = £12.97
