Commercial finishes are often seen only from afar. But zooming in reveals the intricate weaving, embossing, patterns, and color shifts that define these textiles and surfaces.
For each image, move the slider to show the material in detail (left) and in application (right).
Xorel Cirque Couture, Carnegie
Rumpled, embroidered rings add a tangible third dimension while helping Carnegie’s Xorel Cirque Couture earn its fashion-inspired name. For use on walls and furniture accessories, the textile is PVC free and Cradle to Cradle Silver certified.
Millions of Colors, Wolf-Gordon
Danish textile designer Grethe Sørensen weaves colorful nylon and wool fibers into an array of pixels to create Millions of Colors, a trio of upholsteries for Wolf-Gordon. Fire (shown), Earth, and Milky Way offer warm, cool, and monochromatic colorways, respectively, that shift gradually on a 223.5" repeat.
Drape, Maharam
An embossed, gradient surface adds interest to nonwoven vinyl textiles in Drape, designer Konstantin Grcic’s upholstery and wallcovering line for Maharam. An antimicrobial, stain-resistant finish suits the material for high-use spaces in need of a durable covering.
Banana Fibers, 3form
Wild plants and corn husks are shredded and their fibers sandwiched between layers of 3form’s Varia Ecoresin partitioning surface, which contains 40% post-consumer-recycled content and is Greenguard-certified for indoor air quality. Banana Fibers, one of the many organic-material interlayers offered by the company, features light and dark translucent strips that proffer a warm glow.
My Tribe, Beatwoven
U.K.-based designer Nadia-Anne Ricketts derives the patterns of her bespoke Beatwoven textiles from the digital vocabulary of sound. Her proprietary audio technology visualizes the work of artists from Rachmaninoff to DJ Demi, a music producer with whom she collaborated on My Tribe (shown). Its squares and rectangles replicate the drum beats of electronic dance music.
Milzig, John Boyd Textiles
Working horses may have all but disappeared from the streets of Castle Cary, England, but the 177-year-old John Boyd Textiles remains in town as a producer of horsehair fabric for upholstery and wallcoverings. The fibers are wrapped with silk and cotton for consistency, and the textiles’ widths are limited to the length of the cropped horsetail hair. The company still produces its legacy designs, but new variations, such as Milzig (shown), apply the traditional craft to contemporary design. (Editor's note: No application photo available for this product.)
Detail photos by Mark Basher.
