In the sitting room of a Victorian villa recently finished by Brandon (pictured top), the framed Alexander Girard textile seems made for the space, picking up the colours of the wall, sofa and cushions and adding to the overall warmth of the space. “Some kinds of textiles, like the Alexander Girard one, are really just fabric designs rather than independently created artworks,” Brandon explains. “They often have a naturally contemporary feel to them, since they tend to be geometric, repetitive patterns, and that makes it much easier to use them in transitional interiors, where we want to keep the time period from becoming too settled in one way or another.” A large oil painting here would highlight the Victorian history of the house too much while something modern might skew the room into a mid-century aesthetic. Instead, the framed textile provides an almost anonymous touch, as Brandon says, preventing the scheme from tipping into any clichéd style.
A framed suzani in a Cotswold house by Joanna Plant
Paul Massey
A framed textile can also be quite friendly when it comes to budget. It’s been said here before but often during the decorating process, funds seem to vanish before we’ve even got to what’s going on the walls but with a textile, you get “more impact for your money,” as Brandon so eloquently puts it. Some people, like Flora Soames, spend their life collecting textiles and scraps of beloved fabrics so would naturally have a wealth to choose from but even if you’ve never bought anything beyond what you need to upholster some furniture or finish some curtains, even the smallest piece can make a big difference. Larger textiles – from rugs to weaves – can be picked up for fairly reasonable prices from all over “so it can be a great way to get a lot of impact and fill wall space without throwing a lot of money at it”. There is of course the other side of textiles, think fine tapestries, historic pieces and fine weaves, that can be super costly so don’t think that all textiles are cheaper than art.
By framing them, rather than letting them hang alone, you are adding gravitas to the textile and presenting it as an artwork. It mixes two decorative genres together elegantly and makes a statement from even the most small scale piece. Just recently, Sarah Peake of Studio Peake framed a rectangle of beloved, leftover Vanderhurd fabric for her house and it proves just how good a framed textile can be.
