Mark Alexander | Haze Silk Wallcovering

Haze is a silk-faced wallcovering with no pattern in it at all, so the interest is entirely in the fibre. Fine silk laid across the ground gives a soft, close surface that is never quite flat: the colour moves a shade lighter or deeper along the length of a drop, in the way a natural fibre does. It is quieter than people expect silk to be, matt rather than bright. On a wall it reads as a very fine plain with more depth in it than paint can give.

The roll is 131 centimetres wide and 33 metres long, a good deal more than a standard wallpaper roll, which means fewer seams across a large wall. There is no pattern repeat. Six colourways: Natural and White Sand at the undyed end, Parchment a warm off-white, Brush a soft mid tone, Vert D Eau a pale green, and Indigo the deepest of them. All six are low in contrast against themselves, so colour arrives as atmosphere rather than as a statement.

We use it in bedrooms and dining rooms, the rooms seen mostly in low or late light, where a surface that shifts slightly is worth having. It is good above a panelled dado and good on all four walls of a small room. Keep the rest of the scheme dry and matt around it: linen at the window, a wool rug, painted joinery. Order a sample to see it in your own light.

It is applied paste-the-wall. Silk marks, so keep paste off the face entirely and work with clean hands and a clean table, because a smear will not wipe out. Colour varies panel to panel, which is inherent in the material rather than a defect, so hang consecutive lengths in roll order and reverse alternate drops if you want the shading to balance. Order all rolls in one batch number and add a spare; a later batch will not match.

• Roll width: 131 cm
• Roll length: 33 m
• Pattern repeat: None — plain
• Suitable for: Walls
• Care: Wipe gently with a soft, dry cloth
• Collection: Haze Silk Wallcovering, Mark Alexander
• Colourways: 6 (Brush, Vert D Eau, Indigo, Natural, Parchment, White Sand)