Mark Alexander | Washi

Washi takes its name from the Japanese papermaking tradition, and the surface behaves the way a handmade paper does: fibres visible in the sheet, edges of the design slightly soft, no mechanical evenness anywhere in it. The repeat is 45 centimetres, a comfortable middle scale that neither disappears nor dominates. What it does in a room is take the hardness out of flat plaster, which is why we specify it where paint would feel too blunt.

Rolls are 91 centimetres wide and 10.97 metres long, with a 45 centimetre vertical repeat. There are five colourways. Parchment is the palest and the one we use most, a warm off-white. Moonrock and Stoneware sit in the greys, Stoneware the deeper and more clouded of the two. Indigo is the dark blue of the range. Metal is cooler and reflects a little more light than the rest, so look at it against the daylight the room actually gets.

We use it in bedrooms and in the calmer sort of sitting room, and on all four walls of a snug where the aim is to make the space feel lined rather than decorated. It also does well in a dining room, and in a study behind open shelving. Pair it with plain linen curtains, a flat matt paint on the joinery and lighting you can take right down. Order a sample to see it in your own light.

Hang it by pasting the wall, and use someone experienced with paper-based wallcoverings, as the face will not take paste or overworking. Order every roll in a single batch and check the batch numbers before cutting; keep one spare roll back for repairs, because a later batch will not match. Some panel-to-panel variation is normal in a fibrous paper, so sequence the drops rather than hanging the rolls in the order they arrive.

• Roll size: 91 cm wide x 10.97 m long
• Pattern repeat: 45 cm vertical
• Suitable for: Feature walls, full rooms, bedrooms, snugs, dining rooms
• Care: Wipe gently with a soft, dry cloth
• Collection: Collage II, Mark Alexander
• Colourways: 5 (Indigo, Parchment, Moonrock, Metal, Stoneware)