de Le Cuona | Engraved Mortar with Beaten Top and Stained Bands No.38 – Brown

Engraved Mortar with Beaten Top and Stained Bands No.38 is one of those cloths that rewards being looked at closely. The name tells you a good deal about how it is treated: a surface that has been engraved and beaten, with stained bands running through it. The result is a cloth that carries variation in tone and texture rather than a uniform colour, so it reads as worked and slightly weathered rather than printed or woven flat. In a room it gives a quiet, mineral depth that changes with the light.

The colourway here is Brown, which in this treatment leans earthy and soft rather than dark and heavy. The banding gives the cloth a gentle horizontal rhythm without turning it into an obvious stripe, and the beaten finish breaks up the light so the colour never looks dense. It is a de Le Cuona fabric, sold under SKU EMT38. We have not been supplied the composition, width, repeat or Martindale figure for this cloth, so we will not quote any. Ask us and we will confirm them with the maker before you commit to quantities.

We would use it where a plain linen would feel too still and a pattern would feel too busy. On a pair of slipper chairs it gives a considered, lived-in quality, and as scatter cushions it adds texture to a sofa without introducing a competing colour. For curtains in a study or dining room, the banding can be allowed to fall naturally, which suits a calm and slightly tactile scheme. Pair it with soft whites, stone and oatmeal, and with timber that has some grain and age rather than a high polish.

Because the surface depends on its banded, hand-worked finish, we advise cutting from a single run and keeping the direction of the bands consistent across every piece of a project. Decide before cutting whether the bands should run horizontally or vertically, and tell the workroom clearly, as it changes how the finished piece reads. Order a little more than the minimum so there is room to place the banding sensibly on each panel, and ask for a large sample before you finalise the scheme.