Fabric and Wallcovering
Staff -- Interior Design, 5/31/2011 2:46:00 PM
Elitis
Rosaria Rattin left architecture school to study fashion in Paris but eventually returned to spatial design through Kose, her brand of handcrafted ceramic accessories. Now she's thrown some ideas against the wall to see if they stick, and they certainly do. It took two years to perfect a new technique to produce her Vases wall covering for Elitis: Jersey fabric with nonwoven backing is laid over foam then thermoformed in a mold to create the relief texture. The resulting 49-inch-wide roll comes in 3 ¹/³-foot lengths, up to 65 ½ feet long. 33-56-1802020; elitis.fr.
Carolyn Ray
Cole & Son
London's Design Museum translated a funky graphic by renowned Dutch typographer Wim Crouwel into Graphic Odyssey, a limited-edition wallpaper. Recurring Cs-a reference to the designer's (and the company's) name-cover the 20 ½-inch-wide pattern, offered in aqua and gray. 4-20-73764628; cole-and-son.com.
Kravet
The promise is obvious with Kravet Guaranteed, an expansion of the company's Guaranteed in Stock program that ups the inventory to more than 1,000 patterns. Among the new Teflon-treated offerings are 31406-623 and 31436-523 in rayon and polyester and 30962-135 and 31371-313 rayon-polyester blends. 800-645-9068; kravet.com.
Versa Wallcovering
Flowing rivers and windswept dunes inform Wavelengths, a sculptural low-VOC vinyl wall covering made using water-based inks and adhesives. Offered in 52- and 54-inch widths, it comes in 21 high-octane colors, with names like Red Sun Orange, Phoenix Turquoise, and Lumen Soft Yellow. 502-458-1502; versawallcovering.com.
Maharam
Bart Hess puts a distinctly 2011 spin on the time-honored art of quilting with Tangram. The Dutch designer's sprightly mix of free-style geometrics is rendered in polyester and cotton. The 54-inch-wide fabric comes in four hues, including Lead. 800-645-3943; maharam.com.
Brentano
Wellness and style go hand in glove with Strata, a 54-inch-wide upholstery from the Essentials series by Iris Wang. The polyester and rayon fabric sports a waterproof and antimicrobial Nano-Tex finish, making it the ideal accompaniment to health-care projects. Select from eight colorways. 847-657-8481; brentanofabrics.com.
Joseph Noble
The only thing ambiguous about For Certain, a new addition to the Technology Leather series, is that it's not really leather. The 54-inch-wide fabric is constructed from polyurethane, with clever faux stitching that facilitates the ruse. Choose from 11 colors. 214-741-8100; josephnoble.com.
Eskayel
Fresh off the debut of its textile and ceramic lines, the custom wallpaper specialist continues to branch out with Era. Shanan Campanaro digitally manipulated her own watercolor-and-ink paintings to devise 12 patterns that can be freely applied to a number of categories: sheets or rolls of wallpaper reinforced by nylon and latex, fabric by the yard in natural linen, and now down-stuffed linen pillows. And though the made-to-order collection is produced in Brooklyn, the images originated from the designer's memories of a European holiday: mottled Roman bricks, stone cliffs off Amalfi, olive groves in Campania. Some appear quite geometric: Consider the golden Cleopatra, slate-tone Kusafiri, and metallic Roman Ram. Others embrace fluidity, as in Splatter Spell's random medley of granites. But the common thread, of course, is the artist's painterly touch: strokes of blue and gray in Dynasty, splashes of opal or sapphire in Aquarius, splotches of shale and navy in Galileo Glass. 858-531-9034; eskayel.com.
Dedar
Find the hue for you in Passepartout, a faille made from mercerized cotton in a library of 41 vibrant solids. The 55-inch-wide fabric is woven at a density of 100 yarns per centimeter, offering enhanced wear-resistance while maintaining its lovely luster. 800-493-2209; dedar.com.
Bernhardt
The links of a vintage bracelet sparked the soft-cut geometry of Vibe. The 55-inch-wide fabric is constructed entirely from rapidly renewable bamboo, which is naturally deodorizing, antibacterial, and allergy proof. In seven shades: Pacific, Camel, Punch, Espresso, Pearl, Citrus, and Mahogany. 877-639-0728; bernhardttextiles.com.
Camira Fabrics
Indulge in guilt-free luxury with Blazer I, a wool upholstery fabric that's sustainable and compostable. A subset of the Second Nature collection, the 55-inch-wide series is finished with a billiard cloth-felt surface and offered in 32 saturated shades. 317-484-0305; camirafabrics.com.
Knoll Textiles
Dorothy Cosonas channels the '60s with Jubilee. A member of the Interplay group, the Greenguard-certified cotton-polyester blend is reversible. Available in six colorways-12 if you count the opposite sides-in a 55-inch width. 800-343-5665; knolltextiles.com.
Janus et Cie
Circular logic prevails in Van Gogh Kiwi. Equally suited to interior and exterior applications, the 55-inch-wide solution-dyed acrylic resists fading, stains, pesky UV rays, and mildew-attributes shared by the nearly 200 patterns in the company's expanded textile assortment. 800-245-2687; janusetcie.com.
Wallpaper Collective
Long before recycling got hip, Piet Hein Eek scavenged for wooden salvage to build his artful line of furnishings. Over the years this approach landed the Dutch designer in a number of influential galleries and cultural institutions, New York's Museum of Modern Art among them. But he'd never extended his unique sensibilities to walls-until now. The Scrapwood wallpaper series mimics the look and feel of reclaimed wood but is actually printed on heavy-duty nonwoven paper with membrane backing. And while there are six style subsets-from monochromatic 04 and 05 to mosaiclike 03 and 06-the patterns are far from programmed. Each reveals unique properties, just like the woods the series is modeled on; note the whitewashed planks of 01 and 02. Offered in 43-square-foot rolls 17 ¾ inches wide by 354 inches long, the colorfast prints can be washed with just water and a cloth. 917-951-2081; wallpapercollective.com.
Maki Yamamoto
Many great painters have gone through a blue period, so it shouldn't surprise that New York textile artist Maki Yamamoto is navigating a similar phase. "I was fascinated by the primitive shibori method of dyeing," she says of her ardor for indigo. "Unexpected patterns appear with the harmony of my own will, and nature's will." A blue-and-white flared edge contrasts with the deeper tones of Konn, and similar detailing reappears against the white ground of Hakuri. Yamamoto continues the color story in the Tenui collection, though her medium shifts to handstitching. Nami, a creamy pleated silk organza, is embellished with dotted lines of string, while Shiokaze, a linen and cotton, displays assymetric texture. In the Ao series, linen provides a canvas for hand-dyed designs, including the dueling stripes (and dual names) of Shima and Shima Shima. 212-304-0540; maki-yamamoto.com.
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