The border is an old device and a much underused one. Before wallpaper was hung wall to wall it was framed like an upholstery panel, and the border did the framing. Jaspe Border revives that practice: a narrow run of the house's strie brushwork, finished with a contrasting metallic trim along its edge.
What it does in a room is architectural rather than decorative. Run around a doorcase it gives the opening a defined edge; taken along a skirting or up the raking line of a staircase it draws attention to the geometry of the room; set at the top of a wall it can stand in for a cornice where none exists. The metallic line is fine enough to catch light without glinting, and the strie beside it keeps the whole from looking like trim for its own sake.
It also solves a practical problem. Where a stripe meets a figurative paper, or two coordinating prints meet at a corner, the join can look unresolved. A border gives that meeting a deliberate edge and makes the pairing look intended. Used sparingly, it is one of the quietest ways to make a decorated room look considered, and the simplest way to finish a papered wall where no cornice exists and none can be added.
