In The World Of Fabric, What Is Brocade?

I've posted about many different types of fabrics in the past from exotic creations like ikat, here, or African kuba/kente/mudcloth here.

Those are visually easy to identify because they are so unique, but some fabrics get confused with one another and terms sometimes end up being interchangeable even when the fabrics are distinct. Jacquard, previously here, is an umbrella term for many types of fabrics. The name refers to Joseph Marie Jacquard, the inventor of an 1801 attachment for looms using punch cards that individually control each of the warp yarns (the up/down, or north/south yarns) in a piece of cloth.

Below you can see a Jacquard attachment on a loom.

Here is a close-up of the punch cards, made of thin planks of wood. If there was a hole, a hook would raise. If not, the hook wold go down. In this way, a pattern would emerge in the fabric.

Differing fabrics and effects can be achieved by varying the color, material, and number of warp as well as weft threads. One of the fabrics a Jacquard loom can create is damask which features some kind of figure, usually symmetrical, like an Arabesque or a floral. The warp fibers are shiny while the weft fibers (those that left/right or east/west as it were) are matte. This gives damask a quality that makes it ideal for tone-on-tone color palettes. Another characteristic of damask fabric is that is is reversible...there is no "rough" woven side. For this reason, the use of damask is very common for tableware like napkins and tablecloths.

But something even more complex can be created when adding extra weft fibers only in a certain area to make a raised or embossed design. This type of jacquard fabrics is called brocade. Originally crafted from silk, brocade has origins in ancient India around 1750 B.C.E. It made its way through China around 450 B.C.E., and through the European Renaissance of the 15th century. But the invention of the Jacquard loom allowed brocade to be made faster, and the fabric was once again the rage throughout the 1800s.

What makes brocade so special is that the extra weft threads are often of metallic gold or silver, making the raised design shimmer. This opulent fabric can be used for very special but limited applications for upholstery, pillows, even wall covering. Using a brocade speaks to its history and adds a sense of luxury and value.

Chinese Brocade from Lee Jofa/Kravet in Sand and Red

Chinese Brocade from Lee Jofa/Kravet in Sand installed on library chairs

Happy designing!

A Flokati Will Keep You Warm

For the colder months here in the Northern Hemisphere, nothing keeps you warmer than all natural wool. And what could be more luxurious than feeling warm, thick wool pile under your feet instead of a cold wood or tile floor?

A flokati (flow-KAH-tee) is a type of rug that has been woven in Greece for thousands of years. Originally created by Vlach shepherds in the Pindus mountain range on the border of Greece and Albania, these rugs are made entirely of sheep wool, including the base. When the rug is being woven, long wool strands are inserted in between the weft fibers (the ones that run horizontally, or left to right). The rugs are then left in cold running water like rivers or waterfalls (or machine baths) where the long wool strands unravel and fluff out, while the backing gets much tighter, creating the classic, shag-rug look and feel of a flokati.

Today, these rugs are still handmade in Greece. In fact, in 1966 the Greek Ministries of Finance, Industry, and Commerce passed a law regarding flokatis that is reminiscent of the territorial claims for champagne (in order to be called champagne and not just a sparkling wine, it must be made in the Champagne region of France). The law specified that for a rug to be classified as a flokati, it must be hand woven in Greece and must be made of 100% wool (warp, weft, and pile). The total weight of the rug must be at least 1800 grams of wool per square meter. And the flokati must be subjected to the water friction process for the pile to unravel and fluff out.

Since they were popular in the United States in the 1970s, these rugs can have a slightly retro vibe to them. But as you can see below, they can look completely modern too!

Flokatis don't have to go on the floor either--they can be spread on chairs or on the backs of sofas...or even hung on walls like a tapestry to give a space texture.

Happy designing!

4 Types of Natural Fiber Rugs

As I've said many times here on the Fiorito Interior Design blog, each aspect of interior design brings with it an unexpected amount of information, options, nomenclature, and choices...more than a lay person could have imagined. So let's dive into a little subset of flooring information: rugs and carpets can come in many different materials, and sometimes the most overlooked category is that of natural fiber rugs. We've all seen them, but do we really understand what they are made of?

1) I think the most common term we've all probably heard is "sisal." But what is a sisal rug? Woven from the stiff fibers of the Agave sisalana, a type of agave plant that looks a little like a palm, a sisal rug is one of the toughest materials out there, suitable for higher traffic areas.

Sisal comes in a variety of organic, neutral colors and naturally resists allergens. Look how the sisal rugs installed in a home by Michael Abraham Architects below lend a textural element to the room without becoming a pattern. When used as area rugs, the edges can be bound with tape in any color to coordinate with an existing color palette. Sisal is however fairly rough to the touch, so be careful when installing in areas where one will tend to be barefoot...and because it is a completely natural fiber, it will absorb water so be very careful of spills!

2) Jute is a material we have all used at one time or another in the form of twine, rope, Hessian cloth, and some sacks which hold, for example, rice or coffee beans. It is made from the bark of the white jute plant (Corchorus capsularis) and tossa jute (C. olitorius).

As a woven rug material, it is softer than sisal with a feel closer to cotton and for that reason is better in lower traffic areas of the home. It tends to be thicker than sisal, so the profile of the rug can be substantial. And like sisal, it is a natural material that will quickly and eagerly absorb liquids.

3) Seagrass, as its name implies, grows under the sea. Rugs are made from a variety of grasses and not from one specific type.

There's a very thick seagrass that can be woven into a rattan-like material and made into tables, chairs, and ottomans but rugs are made from a type more suitable for the function. These fibers are extremely tough and cannot be dyed so seagrass rugs often have a greenish cast to them.

4) Coir (pronounced COY-er) is an astonishing material. It is a yarn made from fibers of the discarded husks of coconuts! Brown coir is made from mature coconuts while the white variety is made from green husks of unripe coconuts.

Coir can be woven into a pile for bristly door mats but can also be made into yarn for rugs similar to sisal, jute, and seagrass, with a texture like that of a Berber carpet.

The advantage of these materials is that, when grown judiciously, they are all sustainable, coming from plants that renew quite quickly, or in the case or coir, coming from the cast off of a plant, leaving the living tree untouched.

Happy designing!

Three Patterns of Africa: Kuba, Kente, and Mud Cloth

Using ethnic cloth as an accent in interiors is a wonderful way to add character, texture, and pattern. The following three cloths, all hailing from Africa, are beautifully earthy and graphic, and would lend tremendous panache to any space.

Kuba (KOO-buh) cloth is made in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, out of raffia. Men grow, harvest, and weave the raffia into a coarse material which is then given to the women who pound the cloth in a mortar to soften it. Once it becomes supple, the women then appliqué geometric patterns to the yardage of the base cloth. The result is a fabric that bears a resemblance to cut velvet. The patterns traditionally vary in a single piece, abruptly shifting from one repetitive pattern to another.

Because of the nature of the raffia, this material is better suited for smaller, decorative items like pillows or displayed as wall hangings and art, but one does see it used on seating and chairs. The first photo below shows a bench upholstered in kuba cloth from West Elm (now discontinued).

Native to the Akan people of South Ghana, kente (KEN-tay) cloth is unique in that it is actually comprised of many individual strips of tightly woven cloth. These strips are woven into a bigger piece of fabric, much like the strapping of lawn chairs, in an "over-under" pattern, creating rich layers of stripes and lines. A hallmark of kente cloth is its bright colors of orange, green, blue, and black.

Below we see it used as a pillow cover for a bright sitting area by Glenn Gissler.

Mud cloth from Mali, also called bògòlanfini (bow-hoe-lan-FEE-nee), is dyed and patterned using fermented mud high in iron content which lends the rich rusts, browns, and blacks characteristic of this fabric. The room below uses mud cloth and kuba cloth! Like kuba and kente cloth, mud cloth also features highly geometric patterns with, generally speaking, extra thick lines.

Mud cloth is perfect for using in upholstery because of its thicker, near-burlap-like texture which holds up well on chairs and sofas. It looks good on simple pieces of furniture as seen in the desk chair in the first photo below, but it also looks amazing on antique or European pieces like the Louis XV chair in the second photo below. Remember Design Mantra #1: "Contrast brings interest!"

I used a piece of authentic mud cloth as a tree skirt under an African themed holiday tree I created a few years ago for a charity called The Holiday Designer Showhouse, here in Northern California. You can read the original post here.

I have access to many sources of fabric which invoke kuba, kente, and mud cloth, but also know where to get the original versions of these cloths. If you would like to reupholster a chair, or create some custom pieces of furniture utilizing these stunning fabrics, give me a call!

Happy designing!