Borracha Wallpaper

Our hand-marbled wallpaper is the result of a collaboration with our neighbour Florence Saumarez, whose home and studio are both just a few doors down from us in Bath.

The Moiré technique used to make the wavy lines is know as Spanish marbling and folklore has it that its origins relate to a drunken assistant returning to the workshop after a few glasses of wine, and lowering the paper in to the tank with a shaky hand. This is whence comes our name for the pattern "Borracha" (Spanish for drunken woman).

Available in three colourways: Tormenta is a stormy blue-grey, Rioja a deep rich red, and Berdoulat Green - which marries perfectly with the paint colour of the same name that we developed with Farrow & Ball.

It's made for us by Compton Marbling, the oldest paper marbling company in Great Britain, which conveniently is in nearby Tisbury, where our friend Alex Lewis hand marbles each sheet. Unlike a standard printed wallpaper, owing to the hand-made process in its manufacture, it is sold per square metre in sheets as opposed to rolls (with three sheets making up a square metre). Each sheet has to be held and manipulated by Alex whilst lowered in to the tank, in order to achieve the grain in the pattern.

When it comes to hanging the sheets, one should approach it in exactly the same way as conventional paper. We like to use a brilliant breathable natural paste made by Volvox (1-6101).