Complimentary white-glove delivery on orders above $2,000 · Every seam inspected twice

Jarpet & Japes

Window treatment

Japes

The only piece we make that moves.

$1,320 / panel

Sold singly. Most windows take two.

Wash

Japes are drapery panels in reclaimed 14 oz. selvedge, pieced so that the original hems, seams, and pocket bags remain legible across the drop. They hang from antique brass rings on a rod of your specification, weighted at the base with a chain sewn into the hem so the fabric falls rather than flares.

Development

The bracket policy

Our second year, a customer hung a pair of Japes on a tension rod fixed into plaster. The rod, the brackets, a section of the plaster, and a nineteenth century mirror came down together at four in the morning. Nobody was hurt. We now require written confirmation of your hardware rating before we ship, which has cost us sales in every quarter since, and which we will not be revisiting.

  • 38 lb Weight of a pair
  • 40 lb Minimum bracket rating
  • 1 Mirror, in 1861, lost forever

On weight

Nineteen pounds is a great deal for a curtain. It is the reason Japes hang the way they do — the folds are deep, they do not stir in a draught, and they meet the floor in a break rather than a puddle. It is also the reason we are particular about hardware.

A standard tension rod will not hold a pair of Japes. We supply a specification sheet with every order and will not ship without confirmation that your rod and brackets are rated to forty pounds and fixed into structure, not plaster. This has cost us sales. We have not changed the policy.

In the crate

  • Twelve antique brass rings and sewn-in tape per panel
  • A hardware specification sheet and load requirement
  • Chain-weighted hem, finished blind
  • Free re-hemming once, within the first two years
  • The rod and brackets, which must be rated and fixed to structure
  • A lining. Japes are the same fabric on both faces, by design.

Ownership

Care

  1. Shake out quarterly. Do not vacuum the face.
  2. Dry clean only, and only if genuinely necessary.
  3. Draw with the leading edge, not the body of the panel.
  4. Expect the leading edge to lighten first. It is the part your hand finds.

Questions we are asked

Before you commit

Do they block light?

Fourteen-ounce denim at full drop admits roughly two percent of incident light. A room fitted with Japes reads as dusk at noon. Buyers should want this.

Can my existing rod take them?

Almost certainly not. A pair of Japes is thirty-eight pounds. We require confirmation that your hardware is rated to forty and fixed into structure before we will ship.

Are they lined?

No. Japes present the same fabric to the room and to the street, which we consider the honest arrangement and which your neighbours may or may not.

Do they work in a kitchen?

They absorb odour the way any heavy cotton does. We would not put them near a range.

Can I have them shorter?

We will hem to any drop you like and we will ask you twice whether you are sure, because a short Jape hangs like a curtain and a full-length Jape hangs like a wall, and only one of those is what you came for.