Hemp wallpaper

Hemp wallpaper: a woven fiber with a dry, matte hand

Hemp wallpaper is a woven wallcovering: hemp yarn woven into a cloth and laminated onto a paper or non-woven backing. American showrooms usually file it with grasscloth, next to sisal and jute, because it shares the look: threads you can pick out by eye, color that shifts from length to length, seams that read as part of the texture. The fiber comes from the stalk of the hemp plant. It is long and strong, so it spins into an even yarn with a soft sheen on a dry, matte surface.

Hemp next to sisal and jute

Compared with sisal wallpaper, hemp is softer to the touch and less rigid in the weave; compared with jute wallpaper, it is finer and less rustic. That middle ground makes it easy to live with across a large wall. The colors stay close to the fiber, from off-white and sand to gray and dark brown, with dyed shades for a room that wants more color. The full range of natural weaves is under grasscloth wallpaper.

Greenland Natural Hemp, sold by the meter

Natural Hemp from Greenland is sold by the meter, about 36 inches wide, so you order the length the wall needs instead of whole rolls. It comes in dozens of colors, from Brilliant White and Bone Beige to Dusk Blue and Elm Green. CMO Paris weaves Chanvre du Nepal and Chanvre Texture; Dedar blends hemp with linen in Moire Chanvre Wall. Phillip Jeffries, Kirkby Design and Masureel complete the range.

Where hemp wallpaper works in an American home

Hemp belongs on a wall that stays dry: the living room, a bedroom, a home office, the entry. Behind a sofa or a headboard, one wall is often enough to give a room of painted drywall some depth. In a full bathroom or behind a kitchen sink, choose vinyl wallpaper instead, since water leaves a mark on a natural fiber.

Hanging and caring for hemp wallpaper

Hang hemp on a flat, dry, primed wall with an adhesive made for natural wallcoverings. Seams stay visible and, as with any natural fiber, the shade varies slightly from length to length, so order the whole wall at once. The wallpaper calculator works out how much you need, and for a tall wall or a stairwell a professional installer is worth the cost. Dust with a soft brush and keep water off the face.