A little over two centuries ago, before the invention of synthetic dyes and textiles, fabrics were a language unto themselves. Walking down the street or into someone’s home, you would instantly learn about their wealth, status and taste from the fabrics they surrounded themselves with: how soft they were; what colours they were dyed; how they reflected the light. In this language, velvet was the boldest of statements. And that statement was ‘rich’.
Velvet is complicated to make and requires special looms. Cut-pile velvet, which is the most common kind, is made by weaving two lengths of fabric together, joined at the front by extra warp thread. As the textile is woven, these threads are cut, separating the lengths and leaving a soft raised pile.
Velvet was almost exclusively made with silk, because silk was expensive, and it only made sense to make expensive cloth with expensive materials.
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It also reflects the light, a quality that the surface of velvet enhances. In fact, velvet production originated in China, the home of silk, as early as 2000 BC, traded along the silk roads. By the 13th century, however, the secret of producing silk had spread and Venice became a centre of its global production for around 500 years. At the industry’s height, around 1500, there were up to 6,000 looms in the city, operating under the auspices of the Venetian Guild of Silk Weavers and producing cloth that was among the most highly prized ever made. Now, only one company – Luigi Bevilacqua – still makes velvet in Venice on the traditional wooden looms.
Today, velvets can be made with all sorts of fibres and have lost much of their astronomical cost and exclusivity. Nevertheless, the fabric’s inherent qualities – its softness and luxurious, light-reflecting pile – mean it’s still sought after.
We also have modern synthetics to thank for easier-to-clean, harder-wearing and fire-safe velvet variants, making it more suitable for everything from headboards and cushions to curtains and upholstered sofas. There is no shortage of companies making velvets. If you’d like a nod to its Venetian heyday, try Rubelli’s ‘Velvetforty’, which comes in 40 different colours, while being flame retardant. Clarke & Clarke has an enormous range of velvets, from vibrant prints such as ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Congo’ to rhythmic geometrics including ‘Grassetto’ and ‘Kupka’ via ‘Alvar’. They’re highly adaptable and affordable – helping your home say ‘rich’ without breaking the bank.
