Casamance | Dessau

Dessau is a wide-width voile with a fine vertical stripe built entirely out of texture. Bouclé and decorative yarns are woven alongside a thin black thread, and where they cluster the cloth thickens into soft ribs that run down the drop at 10 centimetre intervals. The stripe is the weave itself, which gives it graphic order without hardness. The name refers to the Bauhaus school at Dessau, and the discipline of the pattern owes something to that.

The blend is 47 per cent polyester and 43 per cent acrylic with 6 per cent linen, 3 per cent viscose and 1 per cent wool, woven in Turkey at 400 grams per square metre. It is 300 centimetres wide and made to be railroaded, so a wide window is dressed from one seamless length; it is a free match. The three colourways are Ivoire, Grège and Acier: the first two sit comfortably with limestone and pale oak, while Acier, a soft steel grey, is the one we reach for in a room with darker joinery or a black window frame.

We use Dessau where a sheer has to do a little more than soften the light: on a run of tall windows in a living room, as the only curtain on a study window, or across a bedroom wall where a plain voile would look thin. Pair it with a plain linen or wool curtain in a deeper tone and keep the rest of the scheme quiet. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

Because the ribs run down the drop, ask your maker to plan each panel so the stripe sits evenly at the leading edges, and use a wave or soft pencil pleat heading rather than a tight pinch pleat, which fights the texture. Order by track length with around 2 times fullness, add a chain weight in the hem, and leave it unlined.

• Composition: 47% polyester, 43% acrylic, 6% linen, 3% viscose, 1% wool
• Width: 300 cm (118 in)
• Pattern repeat: 10 cm horizontal
• Weight: 400 g per square metre
• Match: Free match
• Care: Dry clean recommended
• Origin: Made in Turkey
• Collection: Les Bateliers, Casamance
• Colourways: 3 (Grège, Ivoire, Acier)