Walls and Furniture

Wallcovering. The material is laminated to a PET non-woven backing. The wall decides the installation method more than the fabric does: a plasterboard wall, a joinery panel and a curved column take different fixings and different seam positions.

Upholstery and soft wall panels. Here the material is bonded to a 1 mm vinyl cushion backing for furniture faces and soft walls. The fabric is asked to hold a seam under tension, take a shape over foam, and survive cleaning without changing surface.

Same weave, same yarn, different backing, different test sheet. The mistake to avoid is specifying "woven vinyl" without naming the application, because the backing is what the installer and the upholsterer actually work with.

For furniture, four tests come up in almost every brief: tensile strength, tearing strength, burst strength, and Martindale abrasion. Our material is tested on all four and the results appear on the data sheet for each quality.

We do not publish a Martindale figure without the sheet behind it, and we would encourage the same caution on the other side of the table. A cycles figure quoted without the test method, the abrasion medium and the assessment criterion cannot be compared with another supplier's figure. Ask for the sheet, read the method line, then compare.

For wallcovering, the questions are different. Dimensional stability matters on a long wall. Surface cleanability matters wherever hands and trolleys touch. Seam behaviour matters on any wall over about three metres, because a wallcovering seam is looked at from a standing position all day.

Woven vinyl can be sewn or HF-welded. Welding gives a flat seam with no stitch line.

The choice is practical rather than aesthetic.

Sewn is the usual route for cushions and loose covers, and it is what a soft furnishing workshop already has the equipment for. It shows a stitch line.

HF-welded gives a flat joint with no thread to wear through, which is why it suits fixed upholstery, headboards and wall panels where the seam will be cleaned and touched. It also closes the joint against liquid, which matters in healthcare and hospitality.

For wall panels, welded seams keep the pattern continuous across the joint. For furniture, the welded seam is usually run in a direction that follows the shape of the piece.

A specification for wallcovering or upholstery will be read by a fire engineer, and it will be checked against the building's classification requirement.

• Reaction to fire classification to EN 13501-1, stated for the exact product and backing
• CE marking: certificate 156 covers the flooring, certificate 157 covers the wallcovering
• Declaration of Performance for the product supplied
• REACH statement, and restricted substances reports where the client requires them. Our position on restricted substances is supported by SGS report NGBEC2100793807 A01.
• Colour fastness reports to BS EN ISO 105-B02 and 105-B04, where the surface will see daylight

The classification value belongs in the DoP for that product, next to the standard and the substrate. Send the document rather than the number on its own. A class quoted in an email without its substrate travels into other specifications, and by the time it arrives it is usually wrong.

One note on indoor air, because it comes up in healthcare and education. Ask for the volatile organic compound testing for the product actually being supplied, rather than a statement about the material category.

Projects increasingly run one colour family from the floor up onto walls and seating. Woven vinyl makes that straightforward, because the yarn is the same yarn.

Three points to settle at sample stage.

Solution-dyed colour. The colour is in the yarn before weaving, so a wall and a floor in the same shade weather in the same way. A surface-dyed or printed material does not guarantee that.

Two-tone yarn. Two tones in one colour family give the grain of a natural fibre. The same yarn used on a wall reads as textile at close range and as a solid colour at three metres, which is usually what the designer wants.

Variation is part of the material. Woven vinyl is not identical metre to metre, and the two-tone yarn produces subtle movement across a roll. Set that expectation with the designer when the sample is approved, not with the installer on site.

Upholstery and wallcovering orders are smaller than floor orders, and they usually arrive late in a programme.

Stock qualities carry no minimum order, which suits a feature wall, a reception desk or a single banquette. Unique designs made to your own specification start at 1000 m². Stock qualities ship in 2 to 3 weeks, custom work in 4 to 6 weeks.

Samples are free of charge, with the courier at your cost. Order them at shortlist stage, and ask for the largest piece the application needs. A 10 cm square will not tell an upholsterer how the material behaves over a curve.