There are few things in life I love more than rifling through fabrics at a design center showroom. I find the process of looking through all of those fabrics to be thrilling, and by the time I leave the design center, I find that my spirits are soaring. I tend to spend a lot of time flipping through wing samples, stopping when one catches my eye. When I find a textile that is particularly attractive or inspiring, I play a little game with myself in which I fantasize about how I might use that particular fabric. Perhaps I might daydream about covering a room almost entirely in one printed fabric, while other fabrics might prompt thoughts of a simple flourish or two. The only thing that sometimes brings these reveries to a screeching halt is the realization that my two bedroom apartment can only take so many fabrics. That's why I also sometimes fantasize about someone giving me carte blanche to decorate his or her home, where I can indulge my fondness for fabrics.
When I was traveling recently, I spent a good two hours in the local design center, discovering new fabrics and visiting old fabric friends. But it was while looking at some truly exceptional traditional fabrics that I had a sobering thought: how long can these traditional and sometimes historical textiles survive in a world that often dismisses them as old-fashioned? One problem these fabrics face is the assumption that a furnishing that smacks of the old days is at odds with our technology-driven lifestyles. I strongly believe that few traditional fabrics look out of place in twenty-first-century homes, especially when given a modern context. The other issue is that many people know little or even nothing about these storied fabrics, which means they don't really understand what makes these fabrics special. If they know nothing about a certain fabric, how can they successfully decorate with it? Perhaps it's simply easier to dismiss something than to bother learning about it.
As you can tell, this is a topic that really elevates my blood pressure. (Perhaps I need to calm myself by getting to ADAC- quickly!- to drown myself in fabrics.) I suppose that I can do my part in supporting these traditional fabrics by giving them the spotlight from time to time. Today, I present to you a wonderful old fabric that never ceases to catch my eye: Pommes de Pin by Georges Le Manach. As I understand it, the fabric's charming pinecone-print dates back to the early 18th-century. Le Manach originally produced it as a lampas, though today it is produced on a linen and cotton fabric.
Pommes de Pin might be old, but it is also grand, no matter if it's used in more traditional settings, as I have shown below, or in modern interiors, too.
*To those of you who live in the Southeast: Le Manach fabrics can be ordered through the Jim Thompson showroom at ADAC.
