Mark Alexander | Duosisal

Duosisal is a grasscloth wallcovering woven from two weights of sisal, the finer yarn set against the heavier one so the surface shifts in tone across its own width. There is no printed design and no repeat. What you see is the grass itself, its natural striation and the small changes in thickness that come with any plant fibre. It sits between a plain and a texture: enough happening to hold the eye at close range, not enough to compete with anything else in the room.

Rolls are 91 centimetres wide and 7.32 metres long, with no repeat to allow for. There are eight colourways. Calcite and Seasalt are the two palest and read as texture rather than colour. Pale Silver and Anthracite cover the greys, with Anthracite the darkest of the range and the one that shows the weave most clearly. Heath, Lake, Pimento and Iznik carry the colour, from muted heather through to a deep blue and a warm red.

We use it across all four walls of a study or a dressing room, where the fibre takes the edge off sound as well as light, and on the back wall of an open bookcase so the shelves have a ground. It also holds up well in a hall, which is where most people are surprised by it. Keep the woodwork in a flat paint pulled from the palest thread in the weave. Order a sample to see it in your own light.

Hang it by pasting the wall, and use a paperhanger who knows natural fibre, because paste on the face will not come off cleanly. Order every roll in one batch and check the numbers match before cutting. Add a spare roll for repairs, as a later batch will not match. Panel-to-panel variation in the grass is inherent to the material, so lay the rolls out first and sequence the drops rather than hanging them as they come.

• Roll size: 91 cm wide x 7.32 m long
• Pattern repeat: No repeat
• Suitable for: Feature walls, full rooms, studies, halls, dressing rooms
• Care: Wipe gently with a soft, dry cloth
• Collection: Grasscloth, Mark Alexander
• Colourways: 8 (Calcite, Seasalt, Pale Silver, Anthracite, Heath and 3 more)