The Global Home

High style from around the world

WORLDLY FABRICS

Many of today’s most beautiful fabrics for the home are inspired by techniques native to countries with rich textile-making traditions.

–SAMANTHA STEVENSON

1 SUZANI

This fabric’s name comes from the Persian word for “needle” and “needlework.” Suzani textiles were gifted by “soon-to-be brides to their betrothed as a symbol of affection,” says Amanda Bauer of KDR Designer Showrooms. “A traditional suzani is embroidered,” says Design & Detail’s Jessica Murrie. Popular motifs include flowers and moon and sun imagery. This particular fabric consists of a repeating pattern of machine-embroidered rosettes on a heavy linen herringbone cloth.

Manuel Canovas, Villars, in Amethyste

2 ANDEAN

A process of dyeing fabrics to tell stories, Andean designs date back to the early 1500s in Perú. “This particular piece, inspired by a pre-Columbian woven garment from South America, is a print,” says Bauer. The textile tradition began in a culture in which craftsmen used thread spun from cotton and wool from alpacas and llamas.

Cowtan & Tout, Peru, in cinnabar

3 TOILE

“The term toile de Jouy translates as ‘cloth from Jouy,’ a French town—Jouy-en-Josas—that became a major production center for the fashion fabric in the late 18th century,” says Genevieve Cortinovis, assistant curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Toile features detailed figurative scenes printed in colorfast dyes on cotton with the use of a finely engraved copper plate, a technique invented in Ireland in the mid-1700s. Traditional toile depicts scenes of country life and was sometimes used to commemorate significant political and cultural events.