New rooms, new fabrics at the Louvre

photo St Tyl

The department of decorative arts at the Louvre has been reorganized to include period rooms. Jacques Garcia headed off the scenography and has provided his generous support to the museum. 

photo St Tyl

Art objects of the early 18th century, 

wood paneling from the hôtel Le Bas de Montargis, place Vendôme

 1705-1707 

with modern additions

photo St Tyl

Re-weavings of "lace" pattern damask typical of the period

Tassinari & Chatel

photo St Tyl

Restored original textiles

Rubelli and Moroso

photo: Rubelli

Last year, the Musée des Tissus et des Arts décoratifs of Lyon, hosted the exhibit  Lo sguardo laterale /A sideways glance - Moroso and exploration in decorative arts and design. The event show-cased two creative Italian firms:  furniture maker, Moroso and weaver, Rubelli. 

photo: Rubelli

Very seductive in itself -
this 18th century Philippe de Lasalle textile document was chosen from the Lyon museum archives

photo: Rubelli

to be part the upholstery project.
 The element of fun in Rubelli's recreation of this design is in the ground of the fabric. Those graphic squares are a woven representation of the point paper used for the technical drawing that is usually seen only by the manufacturer. The design is brought into the 21st century with the discreet modernity and a sort of 'textilian' inside joke!

photo: Rubelli
chair design Patricia Urquiola

photo: Rubelli

The fabric was made on a warp of 9600 fine yarns of organzine silk woven with none less than 12 wefts - 11 of viscose  and 1 metallic yarn. The Italian weaver explains, "... 50/60 wefts per centimetre are normally used for a rich fabric, as many as 180 were used for this precious brocade."

Another dimension for textile patterns: Barrisol

photo: copyright Barrisol Normalu

Barrisol is most known for manufacturing classic to spectacular stretch ceilings, but this innovative company's foray into decorative wall and ceiling materials (non-fabric)  in association with the Musée de l'Impresssion sur Etoffes (MISE) at Mulhouse is what has caught my eye.

photo: copyright Barrisol Normalu

The museum has opened its archives of 6 million print designs from the world over to Barrisol who in turn is ready to interpret them for use in interior decoration projects great and small.

With the museum's rich holdings that span 250 years, the possibilities are endless.

This XXL version of a traditional floral design maintains all the subtlety of the original textile design through digital printing.

Colors can be reworked, patterns modified, 

and a graphic studio is available for help with creative superposition and combinations.

If you would like to see more, the company has a brochure on-line that presents a sampling of fabric designs in categories: Asian, abstract, floral, indiennes, geometric, ethnic, dotted, feathers,lace ...

all photos: copyright Barrisol Normalu

Textile in a starring role

photo: Pablo Zuloaga
from an article on Paco Carvajal's restored house in Castille

Don't we all need a fabric-covered room? I found a good reminder of it in the cover of the September issue of  The World of Interior's that awaited me when I got in from vacances. And those warp-printed taffeta curtains! Too much the proscenium, you say archly? What you do on your own little world's stage is really your business alone. I know I'd be happy to make many an entrance and exit here. Even the furry little 40's ottoman longs to get into the action and is parading as another draped figurant...though its beguiling material swag must be a stucco and wood-carved imitation. Alas, I won't be hanging fabric in carefully measured pleats along my walls any time soon, but I have been considering placing curtains between my workroom and the living room. This is inspiring!

Sunny side

photo katarina jebb

scarf Hermès

photo source: pinterest

Time for a break. I'm off for some travel and sun.

Have a very nice month of August!