Raffia wallcovering brings two of the most essential ingredients of an inviting, stylish room — warmth and character. Like a great supporting actor, it's the element a room feeds off of: a foundation that grounds the space without competing with it, leaving room for layered prints, pattern, and personality to shine.

Its appeal lies entirely in its simplicity. It works. And how many things in decorating can you truly say that about?

Billy Baldwin, the "Dean of American Decorating," and a designer Sister deeply admired (describing him as "as American as John Fowler was British") returned to raffia again and again throughout his career. His rooms were famously, and seemingly effortlessly, both classical and modernist at once. Raffia belongs in both worlds with equal ease, which is a rare quality in any material.