Florencecourt is named after the Florencecourt Yew, thought to be one of the original yews of the British Isles and the parent of a great many since. The design is dense yew foliage, overlapping sprays of short needles drawn close together so that very little ground shows through between them. There is no flower and no fruit anywhere in it, which is unusual for a foliage paper and part of its quietness.
It began life as a block print, and the flatness of that technique is still legible in the way the leaves are laid down as solid shapes with no internal shading. What has changed is the printing. It is now produced by a combination of surface and flexographic methods, which gives the mass of foliage a slightly softer, more granular edge than a block would and keeps the darker colourways from going solid. The result reads as texture at a distance and as individual sprays close up.
Because the pattern has no obvious direction and no large motif, it papers awkward rooms well: spaces with sloping ceilings, low doorways, or a great deal of joinery to cut around. It is a natural companion to painted panelling and old floorboards, and it makes a good enclosing ground for a small study or a dining room used in the evening.
