Straw marquetry specification

At a glance

Material and finish statements are what our own straw pages say. No standard, trade guide or partner data sheet for straw marquetry was found.

What you are specifying

Straw marquetry is rye straw split along its length, opened out, pressed flat and laid on a ground piece by piece to form a pattern, a picture or a plain field (our straw marquetry page). Our pages say the finished surface has a directional sheen from the silica in the straw, that it shifts between pale gold and deep amber as the viewer moves, and that the straw is bought in already dyed or left natural. The studio coordinates this work through partner craftspeople: this sheet describes the craft and what a specifier should ask for, not the studio's own production.

So there are five things to specify, and each can change the look: the straw (colour code and harvest), the lay (pattern and strip width), the ground (what it is bonded to), the finish (what is over it) and the light it will live in. The sections below take them in turn. Nothing here is a standard: we found no standard, trade-body guide or partner data sheet for straw marquetry, so every working size is left in square brackets for the partner to fill.

Lay, sheen and colour

One straw, two tones. Each strip is flat and shiny, and a flat shiny strip reflects light in a particular direction. Strips that run at different angles therefore catch the light differently, so in a chevron or a diamond one group of strips reads light and its neighbour dark even when every piece is the same dye. That is the effect, not a defect, and our pages describe it as the sheen that changes with the viewing angle. The drawing shows three lays under one light.

Seams. Where two panels meet, the strips either continue across the join or change direction at it, and the sheen changes with them. The drawing has to say which. For a pattern that crosses panels, ask the partner to show the join on a shop drawing and on a mock-up, because a seam is read at close range.

Colour and the harvest. Our materials page says rye is an agricultural crop, that two harvests a year apart can take the same dye recipe and come out noticeably different, and that for larger schemes a single harvest of straw is set aside before work begins. Write that into the specification as a requirement: all straw for the scheme from one harvest and one dye lot, held by the partner. Some colours are uniform and some deliberately vary from piece to piece, and the variance of the chosen colour is part of the specification (our pages).

Ground, bonding and panel size

Straw is a thin surface and shows whatever is beneath it, so the ground is chosen for flatness and stability. Our pages describe laying onto a panel surface, then light sanding and sealing; they do not name the ground, so name it in the specification (a stable board, with its thickness and flatness) and ask the partner to confirm. Two points come from the USDA Wood Handbook, for wood-based grounds.

Bond at the moisture content of the room. The Handbook says wood products should ideally be bonded at the same equilibrium moisture content that the product will meet in service, and that large changes in moisture content after bonding can shrink or swell the parts, weaken the bond and cause warping, twisting and surface irregularities (Chapter 10, pp. 10-13 to 10-14). At 21.1 C, wood moves from 6.9 per cent moisture content at 35 per cent relative humidity to 12.0 per cent at 65 per cent (Table 4-2): a swing of 5.1 points. A panel made in a dry workshop and fixed in a damp room, or the reverse, is the case to prevent. The Handbook figures are for US wood species; they show the order of the effect only.

Balance the board. The Handbook defines balanced construction as one in which changes in moisture content do not cause warping, for example matching faces on both sides. A veneer or straw face on one side of a board with nothing on the back is the unbalanced case, so ask what is on the back.

Panel size. We found no published maximum for a straw panel. The practical limits are the partner's (the length of usable straw, the press, the ground). Our pages say a 2.5 m stem yields about 60 cm of usable material once split and flattened, so large fields are assembled from many short pieces and any run of continuous direction is short. Ask for the largest single panel the partner will lay and where the joins fall.

Light and fading

Our pages say the natural colour holds well in normal interior use and can lighten with prolonged exposure to direct sunlight, and that dyed straw is dyed in natural or mineral pigments. No light-fastness rating for the straw or the dyes was found, so treat the risk as open and ask for one.

What the conservation literature says. The Canadian Conservation Institute rates coloured materials by the ISO Blue Wool scale: high sensitivity is Blue Wool 1 to 3, medium 4 to 6, low 7 or 8 and above. It says most plant extracts and most early synthetic dyes are rated high. Fading depends on illuminance multiplied by time, and its Table 3 gives the time to a just noticeable fade for high-sensitivity colours, assuming 8 hours a day and 3,000 hours a year:

Those rows are for the most sensitive colours, not a prediction for straw, and a museum timescale is not a hospitality one. The use is the ordering: a lit shop window or a south-facing glazed wall is hundreds of times harder on a colour than a corridor wall. The Institute's controls are to avoid direct sun, block ultraviolet and daylight with filters, blinds and shutters, and keep lighting off when nobody is there. It also says no true recovery is possible from a faded colour. Locate the panel with that in mind, and ask the partner for a light-fastness report on the dye (the test is BS EN ISO 105-B02, xenon arc, with its Blue Wool references) or for their own exposure experience.

Finish, approval, care and repair

Finish. Our pages describe a matt lacquer or clear resin, chosen to protect without dulling the straw's light-catching quality, and say the surface improves in character with age. Specify the sheen as a number with a method, not as the word matt: see the sheet on lacquer sheen levels.

Approval. Approve a sample and, for a large scheme, a mock-up in the light of the room, viewed from the places people will stand. A screen or a photograph cannot show a directional sheen. Our pages say samples are made for each project; this sheet does not offer samples and the studio's sample wording applies. The sample hierarchy sheet sets out the order.

Care. No care instruction for straw was found in our pages beyond keeping it out of prolonged direct sun. Ask the partner for one in writing for the handover manual: how to dust it, what not to put on it, and what to do about a mark.

Repair and spares. No repair method was found. A later repair uses later straw, and dye and harvest vary, so a patch may not match. Ask what can be re-laid, and order a spare panel or offcuts from the same lot with the run: see the spares and attic stock sheet.

Fire. Straw is a plant material. No fire test of straw veneer was found. Where a panel is on a wall or ceiling in a regulated space, ask the partner for the reaction-to-fire evidence for the finished build-up: see fire performance of wall panelling.

Straw marquetry panel to elevation [ref], [ ] × [ ] mm, [straight / chevron / diamond / pictorial per artwork ref], laid piece by piece from split and flattened rye straw, colour codes [list from the partner’s chart], strip width [ ] mm, joins only where shown on shop drawing [ref]. All straw for the scheme to come from [one] harvest and [one] dye lot, set aside and held by the partner before work starts. Approved sample [ref] and mock-up [ref] govern colour, lay and sheen.

Ground: [stable MDF / plywood / other], [ ] mm thick, flat to [ ] mm over [ ] mm, with a balancing layer of [ ] on the reverse. Ground conditioned to [ ] per cent moisture content before bonding, to match the expected room condition of [ ] per cent relative humidity. Adhesive and method to be stated by the workshop in a method statement.

Surface lightly sanded and sealed with [matt lacquer / clear resin], sheen [ ] gloss units at [60] degrees measured to [method stated], to approved sample [ref]. No visible runs, dust, orange peel or witness lines under raking light at [500] mm.

Panels are located as drawing [ref] and are not to receive direct sun. Where daylight reaches them, [blinds / UV-filtering film] are to be provided by [party]. The partner is to supply a light-fastness report to BS EN ISO 105-B02 [edition] for each dye used, or state that none exists, before the colours are approved.

The partner is to provide written care instructions for the handover manual. A spare [panel / offcuts of [ ] m²] from the same harvest and dye lot is to be supplied and stored by [party]. The partner is to state what repair is possible and what colour match can be expected.

Standards and sources

• USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material, FPL-GTR-282 (2021): Table 4-2; Chapter 10 pp. 10-13 to 10-14; glossary. US species. Read 8 Nov 2026.
• Canadian Conservation Institute, Agent of Deterioration: Light, Ultraviolet and Infrared: page dated 2018-05-17. Museum context.
• BS EN ISO 105-B02:2014, colour fastness to artificial light, xenon arc: current per sellers and ISO (search summary); BSI page not read.
• Our straw marquetry and dyed straw pages: material, lay, finish and colour statements. No standard for straw marquetry was found.

Questions we are asked

Why does one panel look two colours?

Straw strips are flat and shiny, so strips that run at different angles reflect light differently. In a chevron or diamond the same dye reads light in one group and dark in the next, and the difference changes as you walk past. It is the effect, not a defect. Approve the lay in the room's own light.

Will straw marquetry fade in sunlight?

Our pages say the natural colour holds in normal interior use and can lighten with prolonged exposure to direct sun. No fade rating for the straw or its dyes was found. The Canadian Conservation Institute says most plant-based colours are highly sensitive and that faded colour cannot be recovered. Keep panels out of direct sun and ask for a light-fastness report on the dye.

Can two panels from different batches match?

Not reliably. Our pages say two harvests a year apart can take the same dye recipe and come out noticeably different. Specify one harvest and one dye lot for the whole scheme, held by the partner, and keep a spare from the same lot.

What is straw marquetry laid on?

A stable, flat board. Our pages do not name it, so ask the partner. The Wood Handbook advice for wood-based grounds is to bond at the moisture content the board will have in the room and to balance the construction so it does not warp.

Is there a standard for straw marquetry?

We found none. Specify it by sample, mock-up, colour code, harvest lot and a measured sheen, and ask the partner for their working sizes and tolerances.

Can a damaged panel be repaired?

No published method was found. A repair uses later straw and later dye, which may not match. Ask the partner what can be re-laid and keep a spare from the same lot.