Mark Alexander | Katama Wallcovering

Katama is a printed grasscloth, so the design is laid over a hand-woven natural fibre ground and you get the drawn mark and the woven texture together. The print sits into the surface rather than on top of it, and where the grass strands vary in thickness the ink takes differently, which breaks the line up and stops it looking mechanical. It is the most decorative surface in the Grasscloth Prints range and still quiet by most standards.

Rolls are 91 centimetres wide and 7.32 metres long, shorter than a plain grasscloth roll, so check quantities carefully, with a 64 centimetre vertical repeat. Three colourways are made: Canvas, a pale warm neutral, Loam, a mid earth brown, and Sepia, the deepest of the three. The grasscloth ground varies in tone from panel to panel and between rolls, and the print varies with it. That variation belongs to the material and should be planned into the hang rather than treated as a fault.

We use Katama on a single wall in a dining room or a small study, where the pattern has a boundary and does not need to turn corners. It works well above a panelled dado, and in a cloakroom where a bolder surface is worth the risk. Canvas keeps a small room light, and Sepia makes it feel like a study. Pair it with plain linen at the window rather than another pattern. Order a sample to see it in your own light.

Katama hangs paste-the-wall, butt-jointed, with drops matched on the 64 centimetre repeat. Set out the first drop from a plumb line and work outwards in both directions so the match falls evenly across the wall. The 7.32 metre roll gives fewer full drops than a longer roll, so calculate drops per roll before ordering rather than working from wall area. Keep the whole job to one batch number, check every roll on delivery, and order one spare beyond the calculation.

• Roll width: 91 cm
• Roll length: 7.32 metres
• Pattern repeat: 64 cm vertical
• Suitable for: Feature walls, dining rooms, studies, cloakrooms
• Care: Wipe gently with a soft, dry cloth
• Collection: Grasscloth Prints, Mark Alexander
• Colourways: 3 (Canvas, Loam, Sepia)