Fortuny Upholstery Project

Anyone with some knowledge of antique fabrics would agree that coming across vintage Fortuny fabric of any kind is an exciting event. Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949) was a Spanish artist that truly embodied the idea of "Renaissance" artist, which culminated in the design and production of some of the most gorgeous fabrics. Fortuny etched, painted, sculpted, photographed and designed.

We knew from photos basically what various Fortuny patterns looked like, but none of them were ever marked with a name so we were never sure. One year, however, we purchased a set of six very large drapery panels from a reputable dealer who confirmed that they were indeed Fortuny. At the time it was an incredible find, and we had every intention to resell the panels as a full set, since it seemed to us to be a crime to break them up. As it turned out, the client that purchased the set actually brought them back a month later and asked us to use the fabric to RECOVER an overstuffed set of furniture including a sofa, armchair & ottoman. The thought of cutting into the fabric pained me, but this is what the client was paying us to do (and as it turned out I still have lots of smaller pieces and scraps!). Below is a pic of the armchair "in progress," unfortunately I have not found the photos of the sofa yet. As shown in the photo above, I made piping from the same fabric as well for all the pieces, which along with the constant pinning unpinning and repinning made for a length project, one which also resulted in a gorgeous custom upholstered set of furniture.



Recently I came across a site that sold pillows made with very expensive antique fabrics and trims, and to my surprise I noticed that they catalogued and had photos of all the Fortuny fabric patterns. I was thrilled to see the design of the panels that we sold several years back, and discovered that this particular pattern is called Pergolesi, and that the colorway of the panels we sold has been out of production since the 1940s.

The Paisley Shawl, Part 2

Throughout my years of experience I gained an appreciation for not only these shawls but for all antique fabrics in general. There were only two reasons for me to even consider cutting into one of these shawls: if a client purchased one we had in the shop and asked me to design and make something with it, or if one was damaged in sections but there was enough in good condition to make pillows or a lampshade or perhaps even recover an ottoman.








Pictured above and below are some of the actual pieces i custom made for clients using pieces of paisley shawls.

Perfect Pairing: Altar Cloth & Gothic Revival Chair

I saw it and knew we had to have it in our shop: the French silk, hand embroidered altar cloth pictured below was not something my uncle was at all interested in purchasing. He, like myself, had gone to the same Catholic school on Maui, and was quite familiar with the symbolic imagery embroidered on all the altar cloths and priest's robes etc. This one was not too old, probably from the 1950s, definitely from France, as it was in the midst of a larger shipment of antique textiles that had just gotten in from there. I convinced him of the novelty of and interest in religious textiles, and in no time I found a client and use for it.

It was at this same that another one of my favorite clients came in with a Gothic Revival chair on which the upholstery had shredded and exposed the inner fillings. The arch and trefoils on the back of the chair whisked me back to my Gothic Architecture class at UC Santa Barbara, and after trying to he predictable combinations of red velvets, it suddenly dawned on me to suggest to her with sincere enthusiasm none other than the altar cloth. She completely agreed that it would make quite a statement, and she liked that. All I had to do on my end was to remove the embroidered appliques as well as all of the trim. That left me with a good sized piece of embossed silk, lots of trim, and 4 good-sized hand embroidered appliques.

I restuffed the chair back and seat, upholstered the chair using the cream silk (centering the design, of course), hot glued the trim, and hand sewed 3 of the 4 appliques to the chair. The fourth applique I centered on a pillow i made with the same fabric and trims (not pictured). The client was overcome with excitement and extremely pleased with the results!