Grasscloth is one of the oldest and most honest wallcoverings there is. Its origins lie in East Asia, where natural grasses, reeds and plant fibres such as jute, hemp and sisal have long been woven onto a paper backing entirely by hand. Because it is a natural material worked by human hands, no two lengths are ever quite identical, and that gentle variation, the slubs, the shifts in tone, the visible weave, is not a flaw but the essence of the thing.
That is what sets grasscloth apart: texture you can see and feel, the surface of the natural world brought indoors.
"Grasscloth is a handmade thing on the wall, and no two lengths are ever quite the same."
An Ancient, Handmade Craft
No two of these are woven from the same plant, which is where the differences begin. Candice Olson Bamboo Hemp Blend in Taupe, from Natural Discovery by York Wallcoverings, is exactly what its name says, bamboo and hemp woven together. Cape May Weave, from Natural Resource 3 by Thibaut, is broader and chunkier, a weave you read from across the room.
Montgomery Weave, from Grasscloth Resource 7, is finer and more even, and takes a deep dye beautifully. Reed Wallcovering, from Grasscloth II by Mark Alexander, is the most closely lined of the four, more reed than grass. All of them arrive on wide bolts, around 91 cm across and 7.3 m long, which is part of why a single roll costs what it does: it covers a good deal more wall than a standard one.
Candice Olson Bamboo Hemp Blend, Taupe by York Wallcoverings
Cape May Weave, Brown by Thibaut
Montgomery Weave, Natural by Thibaut
Reed, Natural by Mark Alexander
Warmth Without Pattern
The great decorating shift of recent years has been the rise of texture, the realisation that a room can feel rich and layered through surface alone, with no pattern at all. Grasscloth is the embodiment of this. It wraps a room in warmth and natural depth, catching the light in subtle, shifting ways, and it flatters everything while competing with nothing.
"Grasscloth wraps a room in warmth and depth, with no pattern at all."
Real Grasscloth, or Grasscloth Effect?
It is worth knowing the difference, because both are sold under the same word and they are not the same thing. Real grasscloth is woven plant fibre on a paper backing. A grasscloth effect is a printed or embossed paper that reproduces the look of that weave. Neither is quite a pretender, but they behave differently and they are priced very differently.
Selvage in Gold, from Senah by Arte, is entirely frank about it: a handwoven textile read closely and rebuilt by layering fine inks, visible selvage edge and all. Iringa in Linen, from Artifacts by York, runs closely reeded verticals the height of the wall in the manner of a woven grass. And A Lot More Textures in Denim, from Today Interiors, gives a plain the fine horizontal weave of cloth.
The gap is mostly money and consistency. The Reed works out at roughly £45 a square metre; the Iringa is nearer £14. And because a printed paper is printed, every roll matches the last, where real grasscloth varies from bolt to bolt by design. If you want the handmade thing, that variation is the whole point. If you want the look across a whole house, or somewhere you would rather not think about it, the effect papers earn their place honestly.
Selvage, Gold by Arte
Iringa, Linen by York Wallcoverings
A Lot More Textures, Denim by Today Interiors
How and Where to Use It
Grasscloth is a foundation, and it works almost anywhere. It brings a calm, tactile warmth to a bedroom, a study or a sitting room, and it is especially lovely in the rooms you move through slowly, a hallway or a landing, where you almost touch the walls at close range. Because the interest is all in the surface, it makes a superb backdrop for art, good furniture and bolder textiles.
Wicker Wallcovering in Paprika and Palm Wallcovering in Atlantic, both from Grasscloth II by Mark Alexander, make the case that grasscloth need not be natural and beige at all. One carries terracotta right across a sitting room, fireplace wall included. The other is set into the timber framed doors of a kitchen, which is a clever use of a wide bolt and a reminder that it need not go on a wall at all.
Wicker, Paprika by Mark Alexander
Palm, Atlantic by Mark Alexander
A word to the wise. Because it is a natural, handwoven material, slight variations between rolls are to be expected and embraced, and it rewards careful hanging. Look to houses such as Mark Alexander, Masureel and Arte for natural fibre wallcoverings of real quality, and if you are weighing one against the other, browse the grasscloth and grasscloth effect collections side by side. Always order a sample, since the whole point of grasscloth is a texture no screen can convey.
In a world of the printed and the perfect, grasscloth offers something increasingly precious: the warmth, the irregularity and the quiet luxury of the genuinely handmade.
