Series 02 · relief and grain
Flexible Special Texture Series
Surfaces with enough depth to hold a shadow. Rammed earth, carved timber, charred wood and aggregate — the same flexible sheet underneath, a very different wall on top.
Carved chevron relief
Two kinds of surface sit in this series. Some are moulded from a physical master — rammed earth formwork, hand-carved timber — so the panel keeps the depth of the original: the ridges, the undercuts, the places where a shadow collects. Others are printed from timber and aggregate, which gives a wall the grain without the weight, the moisture movement or the upkeep of the real thing.
The difference shows when you stand beside it. A flat stone face is a colour. A relief face is a colour plus a shadow, and the shadow moves as you walk past. That is the reason to specify one.
In the series
Seventeen surfaces, each with its own page: sheet sizes, colour range, fixing detail and the questions installers ask.
Aggregate WoodBoard-formed concrete: formwork grain, tie holes, and no pour.
Cement Design BoardTrowelled cement held still, crazing and all.
Metal LineFluted metal foil on a mineral board. Cuts with a knife, bends round a column.
Rattan WeaveCane webbing in a herringbone, with none of the sag.
Circle WireCoiled rope pressed flat. The shadow does the work.
Cross WeaveA basket weave at 6 mm. The quiet one.
Herringbone WeaveHerringbone at the scale of a hand-woven panel.
Rammed EarthCompacted lift lines, ten earth tones.
BambooSplit bamboo in two profiles: A concave, B convex.
WoodPlain-sawn oak with real relief, 0.3 mm of it.
CNC Carving WoodEight carved patterns, cut into the mould.
Shou-Sugi-BanAlligator char, sealed. No annual oiling.
Carve Wood BoardSawn end grain, saw marks left in.
AthenaA pattern book in one sheet: zigzag, rope, dots, comb.
Wood BarkBark at trunk scale, on a 1500 × 750 sheet.
ShellScallop fans at 7 mm, the thickest sheet we make.
Fabric TextureLinen weave in two surfaces, square and round.What relief does to a wall
A texture is not a pattern. It is a shape, and a shape needs light before it exists.
Under a flat wash of downlight a deep surface goes quiet — the ridges fill, and the wall reads as a slightly dirty flat one. Rake the light across it instead, from a wall washer or a linear fitting set a hand’s width off the face, and the same wall opens. This is why the series does better on walls people walk past at an angle than on the wall they face head-on.
Which means the drawing matters more than the catalogue. Put the fitting on the same elevation as the surface, and check the layout on a sample panel in the light it will actually live in. Two panels held side by side tell you more than any photograph.
Where it goes, and where it does not
Relief changes what a wall does well. It also changes what it does badly.
Use it
- Reception walls, hotel lobbies, restaurant partitions
- Stair cores and corridors, seen at an angle
- Retail display backs and shopfront returns
- Cabinetry surrounds and joinery faces
- Exterior accent bands, on the right substructure
Do not
- Floors, worktops and anything taking a point load
- Where hands or shoulders rub the same spot daily
- A shower or wet room without tanking behind it
- A wall lit only by flat downlight — the depth will not read
- As acoustic treatment, or as insulation
Ordering
Single-style orders under 500 m² ship in a plywood crate, and the crate is charged separately; above that the sheets go on pallets. Samples are free and travel with the matching test reports, so the surface and the numbers arrive together. Send a drawing, a photo of the room or the light you have in mind, and we reply within one working day with a quantity take-off and a delivered price. For how the number is built, see the price guide.
Questions we get on this series
Is the relief real, or printed?
Both exist in this series, and each product page says which is which. Rammed earth and carved timber are moulded from a physical master, so the depth is real. Timber and aggregate patterns are printed onto the face. At arm’s length you can feel the difference; from two metres you cannot.
Does a deep texture collect dust?
More than a flat panel, yes. Most of it settles on the ridges rather than in the valleys, and a soft brush or a vacuum with a brush head clears it. Avoid the surface where hands and shoulders will keep touching the same spot.
Can it go outside?
Exterior accent bands, yes, on a suitable substructure. It is not a rainscreen on its own, and it is not a floor.
How do the joints read on a textured face?
Less than on flat stone, because the relief breaks the line the eye would otherwise follow. The pattern still has to line up, so set the layout out on paper and check it on a sample panel before the first sheet goes up.
Can I see two or three surfaces side by side?
That is how most of these are chosen. Send the shortlist and the substrate through the inquiry form; samples ship worldwide, free, with the test reports for each face.
The other three series
Flat stone faces, printed art tile and gilded surfaces sit on the same backing. If the relief above is too much for the room, one of them usually is not.