What Are Grasscloth Wallpapers?

The term "grasscloth" refers to designer wallcovering with gorgeous grass surfaces. They come in a variety of different styles and textures, and help to add more depth to your walls. Their natural beauty and unique material has made grasscloth wallpapers especially popular during the Green Movement, when values shifted so that living in harmony with nature and being more mindful of the environment became more important. Like all the best products, grasscloth wallcoverings are still popular today, and help to bring a timeless and look to your walls that works with many design motifs.

Grasscloth wallcoverings take a more harmonious and natural stance to interior design. They invoke a sense of the simple life and reconnecting with one's roots, instead of the cookie-cutter designs and hard lines of mass consumerism. These wallpapers are more environmentally friendly, and help to preserve nature, rather than support the constant waste of natural resources. Because grasscloth evoked an environmentally friendly feel, it became seen as a way to live with nature and away from the stale air of a walled-in existence. Unfortunately, during the 90's a new movement arose, trending toward a more high-tech and futuristic look. As a result, many wallcoverings were painted over in garish colors that hide their true natural beauty and unique character.

These sustainable and environmentally friendly wallpapers are available in a wide assortment of colors, textures and designs. Including jutes, paperweaves, and sisals. Some of the newer models even boast gorgeous patterns created from natural elements to provide even further depth and interest. Every grasscloth wallpaper is unique, and involve an intensive manual process to create a truly individual work.

Chinese silk and grasses have always played a pivotal role in wallpaper history. Asian wallcoverings made from these materials are among the oldest wallpapers known to historians, dating back as far as 107 AD. Wealthy nobles would treat their walls with treatments made from embroidered Chinese silk. The grass wall coverings we know today also originated in China, starting out as a less expensive alternative to their silk-based cousins. The natural grass material made it far easier to produce and afford, and quickly became popular across Asia. Grasscloth also works well to trap and insulate heat, keeping rooms not only looking great, but warmer in the frigid winters as well. over time, these wallpapers reached Europe through maritime trading routes, and new styles began to emerge. Still today, classic Asian styles and materials such as raffa, bamboo, hemp, sisal, paperweave, and jute are still quite common materials used in making these natural wallpapers.

The term "Grasscloth'' refers to a wide variety of different materials. While bamboo is technically a type of grass, raffia, hemp, jute, sisal, and jute are not real grasses. While they may belong to other species, we still consider wallpaper made from these materials to be grasscloth, as they lend a similar look and texture to the end product. Generally speaking, many dried plant fibers are suitable for manufacturing natural wallpapers.

Grasses and plant fibers, such as the stalks or blades of arrowroot, are mainly sourced from Asia. The climate helps to produce the best crop, and some of these plants only grow in very specific regions in Asia. Most traditional manufacturing processes are still centered in Asia, and involve very skilled manual work. Grass and plant fibers are washed, dried, bleached, and dried to get the perfect color and texture. Individual blades or stems are then tied into long strands in order to create the main structure for the wallpaper surface. This "fabric" is then glued to a high-quality paper carrier such as rice paper or wood pulp. The knots where the grass blades were tied together are still visible even after the weaving process is finished, and add to the popular irregular structure of nature wallpapers. This is what gives the wallpaper its depth and unique texture that most other wallpapers just can't match.