Velvet is back: this light, rich and textured fabric is the textile of choice for winter homes

Velvet has found favour again in recent years and designers are getting creative with brighter colours and digital prints.
1/9
Jenny Dalton7 November 2016

The headline fabric this winter is velvet. “And I’m so pleased it’s back,” says Natalia Miyar, London-based interior designer. “It’s luxurious, incredibly inviting and responds to your touch.”

Lush, rich velvet fell out of favour in the mid-Nineties, as minimalism replaced bohemian romance. Textiles specialists such as Dedar of Italy continued to produce it, and in recent years the material has found favour again in projects for the five-star Four Seasons hotel in Kyoto, and Bulgari boutiques. It has been Dedar’s number one seller for the past five years.

Cox London’s Christopher Cox has used a matt green velvet on his new bronze dining chairs, because “it holds its own in an Art Deco apartment or an Elizabethan country house”.

But why is velvet making a comeback now? Light and texture are current design watchwords, says Martin Waller, founder of Andrew Martin interiors, who cites wider Art Deco and Fifties design influences as part of the fabric’s renewed appeal.

“Velvet looks different when light hits the yarn from a different source. So you get subtle variations of tone — it doesn’t look like one big block of colour.”

Waller says the new velvets differ from their Eighties and Nineties counterparts thanks to “brighter colours, a move away from the traditional shades of the past, and it is great to print on”. He offers Navaho and ikat prints on velvet cushions, as a humorous take on East meets West.

Elsewhere Anna Burns Studio has produced digital representations of precious stones on velvet’s surface. And Sé has a significant offering of velvet on products from interior designers such as Nika Zupanc this season. Included is a bi-coloured textured velvet that widens the appeal of the fabric.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in