Mark Alexander | Root

Root is a natural-fibre wallcovering with a coarser, more open laid structure than most grasscloths. The strands vary in thickness along their length and the gaps between them let the backing show through as a fine shadow, so the effect is closer to a woven mat than to a paper. It gives a wall depth without any drawn pattern, and the light across it changes as the sun moves through the day. We would call it the most rustic of the Collage II surfaces.

Rolls are 91 centimetres wide and 10.97 metres long, with a 59 centimetre vertical repeat set by the rhythm of the laid fibre. There are four colourways: Chestnut, a warm mid-brown, Jasper White, the palest of them, and Flint and Shale, two greys that differ by warmth rather than by depth. As with any undyed natural fibre, tone varies panel to panel and roll to roll. Plan for that variation: it is the character of the material, not a fault in it.

We hang Root in entrance halls and on the back wall of a sitting room, where a textured surface gives a plain scheme somewhere to rest. It works behind a bedhead when the bed itself is upholstered in a plain linen. Chestnut suits a room with dark joinery, and Shale sits well with pale oak and limestone. Order a sample to see it in your own light, and look at it in the evening as well as the morning.

Hang Root paste-the-wall. Paste the surface, hang the panel dry and butt the seams rather than lapping them. Note the batch number on every roll and keep the whole job to one batch, as the colour shift between batches on a coarse natural fibre is significant. Reversing alternate drops helps the panels read evenly across a wall. Order a spare roll beyond your calculation for cuts and future repairs, and trim with a fresh blade at every cut, as a dull blade drags the fibre.

• Roll width: 91 cm
• Roll length: 10.97 metres
• Pattern repeat: 59 cm vertical
• Suitable for: Halls, feature walls, sitting rooms, bedheads
• Care: Wipe gently with a soft, dry cloth
• Collection: Collage II, Mark Alexander
• Colourways: 4 (Chestnut, Jasper White, Flint, Shale)