Strand is a vertical stripe made of brush marks. Ribbons of colour run the height of the wall, some laid in a gleaming metallic and others in chalk matte, and the alternation gives the design its structure: the wall changes as you cross the room, one set of bands lighting up while the other stays flat.
The brush marking keeps it from being mechanical. Edges waver slightly, density varies along each ribbon, and the paper reads as a painted surface rather than a printed one. It sits in the same tradition as the house strie textures but carries far more presence. This is a stripe you notice, though not one that demands anything in return. The metallic is not carried across the whole surface, which is the reason the wall reads as a stripe rather than as a shine.
Vertical bands lift a low ceiling, and on a long uninterrupted wall the rhythm does the work of panelling. The colourways divide between quiet tonal pairings and considerably more dramatic combinations on dark grounds, so the design can either recede or set the tone of a room. A dining room, a hall or a bar takes the darker versions; a bedroom or a stair suits the softer ones. It is also one of the few textural papers that will sit happily behind a large mirror.
