A room divider is a screen or piece of furniture placed in a way that divides a room into separate areas. The folding room screens were found in China in the 7th century where they were mainly used by royalty. They were very heavy and ornate, and were not moved around. Now, we use them to divide rooms, creating a more efficient use of the space within the room, as decorators or accent pieces to add character to room space or to hide areas of different usage. Room dividers differ in nature being either: permanent as in using wine shelves in restaurants, built in as in sliding partitions in offices, portable or temporary as for example in convention centers. They may completely obscure as in floor to ceiling dividers, or may allow sight through as for example when plant pots are used to divide areas.
