Casamance | Malaquais

Malaquais is a screen-printed linen voile with a marble veining drawn across it in metallic and pearlescent inks. The print sits on the surface of a plain 100 per cent linen sheer, so the veins catch the light with a faint shimmer while the ground stays matt and natural, and the whole reads as stone dissolved into light; the design is named for the quay on the Seine where pale façades face the water. Being a print on a natural fibre, it shows slight irregularities and shifts of tone from piece to piece, and that is the character of it.

The composition is 100 per cent linen, made in Turkey at 289 centimetres wide and 205 grams per square metre, printed with a repeat of 96 centimetres vertically and 97 centimetres horizontally and a free match. At 289 centimetres it is a railroaded cloth; the width becomes the drop. There are 3 colourways: Céladon, Beige and Cuivre. Céladon is a soft grey-green; Beige is the quiet, stony one; Cuivre has a warm copper glint.

We use Malaquais as a single wide sheer across a large window in a sitting room or a bathroom, and as the inner curtain behind a plain linen in a bedroom. It is a fabric that wants daylight behind it, so avoid it on windows that are mostly curtained by day. It sits well with the Paris Lumière jacquards in Nacre or Mordoré, and with Alaska voile in another room. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

A making-up note: with the cloth turned sideways, the finished drop is limited to about 289 centimetres less hems; the length you order is the finished width plus fullness. Ask your maker to plan the roughly 97 centimetre repeat so the veining is centred on the window, to use a fine linen thread and a narrow hem, and to weight the hem lightly so the print hangs straight.

• Composition: 100% linen
• Width: 289 cm (114 in)
• Pattern repeat: 96 cm vertical, 97 cm horizontal
• Weight: 205 g per square metre
• Match: Free match
• Care: Dry clean recommended
• Origin: Made in Turkey
• Collection: Malaquais, Casamance
• Colourways: 3 (Céladon, Beige, Cuivre)