Ikat is not really a pattern so much as a method, and a fiendishly clever one. Long before the cloth is woven, the threads themselves are bound and dyed, so that when they finally meet on the loom the design emerges with its characteristic hazy, shimmering edges. It is painstaking work, practised for many centuries across a great sweep of the world, from the silk ikats of Uzbekistan to the weavings of India, Indonesia and Central Asia, each culture with its own colours and motifs.
That soft blur is the whole point. It is the visible trace of the human hand, an imperfection so beautiful that entire civilisations have prized it for a thousand years, and on the wall ikat wallpaper brings a warmth that crisp print never can. Here is where it comes from, and the designs on the site that keep faith with it.
"The soft blur is not a flaw. It is the visible trace of the human hand."
An Ancient Art of Controlled Imperfection
The designs that name the technique are the ones to start with. Ikat Bokhara in Emerald, from GP & J Baker's Signature II, is named for Bukhara in Uzbekistan, one of the great silk ikat cities, and it is the classic form: tall feathered medallions in deep green, edges bleeding exactly as bound threads do. Ikat Zig Zag in Indigo Blue, by Origin Murals, is the blur at its most dramatic, a flame-stitch chevron in blues and rust taken across a whole wall as a mural.
Ikat Bokhara, Emerald by GP & J Baker
Ikat Zig Zag, Indigo Blue by Origin Murals (mural)
Why It Warms a Room
In an age of pin-sharp digital print there is something deeply restful about a pattern allowed to be a little soft at the edges. Ikat brings warmth, soul and a sense of the well travelled, which is exactly why it sits at the heart of the current love of craft, texture and gently collected interiors. Its close cousins do the same job. Abr in Green, from Coordonné's Ikart, is named for the thing itself. Abr is the Persian word for cloud, and it is what the weavers of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have always called their ikat: cloud cloth, for the soft-edged way the pattern gathers and disperses. On the wall it does exactly that, a green and gold haze with no hard line anywhere in it. Kasuri in Pondicherry, from Sanderson's Caspian, uses the Japanese word for ikat, and softens the medallion into something an English drawing room can wear. Sumba in Cream, also from Coordonné's Ikart, takes its name from the Indonesian island whose woven cloths are among the most prized anywhere, and it is the most ceremonial of the eight, tall feathered medallions in teal, ochre and coral on a cream ground.
Abr, Green by Coordonné
Kasuri, Pondicherry by Sanderson
Sumba, Cream by Coordonné
A good ikat is also wonderfully forgiving. Its blurred edges and layered colour hide a multitude of sins and flatter almost any light.
"Ikat reads as artisanal rather than manufactured, which is exactly why it feels so personal."
How and Where to Use It
Ikat is versatile in a way its origins might not suggest. A large-scale design makes a relaxed, characterful statement wall in a sitting room or bedroom, while a smaller, tighter one works beautifully as an all-over pattern that wraps a room in soft rhythm. Artisanal Ikat in Yellow, by Joules, is the sociable choice and the one that says the quiet part out loud: a warm ochre ikat repeat, shot running through a hallway into a kitchen, and proof that the technique does not have to mean indigo. Calanco, from Arte's Essentials Travellers, is the opposite tack and the one for a pared-back scheme: a fine textured green where the softness becomes the room's only warm note.
Artisanal Ikat, Yellow by Joules
Calanco by Arte
Ikat has a particular affinity with the layered, slightly bohemian room, at home among kilims, rattan and a bit of well-chosen clutter, but it can look surprisingly sharp in a pared-back scheme too. Keep the palette earthy or jewel-toned and let the ikat set the mood. Where a design comes as a mural rather than a roll, as the Origin Murals one does, it is a panel to a set size, so measure the wall first. Look to Coordonné, Sanderson and GP & J Baker for ikats with real depth of colour, and order a sample first, since so much of an ikat's magic is in the subtlety of that dyed, feathered edge.
There is one last way to borrow the idea, which is to skip the dye altogether and weave the paper instead. Rousseau Paperweave in Sage, from York Wallcoverings' Lemieux Et Cie, prints an ikat over a genuine woven paper, so the softness is in the surface as well as the drawing.
In a world of hard lines and perfect pixels, ikat is a quiet argument for the beauty of the slightly imperfect. Few patterns make a room feel more human.
Ready to Blur the Edges?
Browse the full Ikat collection, or see where it sits among the wider collected looks in Boho Chic and Geometric. If you are not sure how a dyed edge will read in your own light, our Sample Service lets you order a swatch of any design before you commit to a full roll.
Rousseau Paperweave, Sage by York Wallcoverings
