“I can think of a few advantages that framed textiles bring as opposed to, say, a framed painting or photograph,” says interior designer Brandon Schubert, who has employed more than one across the projects of his we've featured on the pages of House & Garden. It's an often overlooked decorative touch to frame a textile, as we're far more used to seeing them on sofas, floors, cushions and windows. In fact, textiles are everywhere in our houses but rarely in frames – except for some reason children's rooms, where a framed, personalised needlepoint of a special date and name is still quite common. Why not continue that in other ways throughout a house?
“They can bring softness to a scheme,” explains Brandon. “We often stretch textiles onto a frame or hang them on a rod or other fixing mechanism (like a tapestry, for instance). In those cases, the textiles aren’t behind glass, so give a lovely soft depth to the walls that you just can’t get with a picture or photo behind glass.” There's the textural element of the softness too, something which what we usually tend to hang on our walls simply cannot provide. “You may get some impasto brush strokes on a painting, but often times a textile will naturally have more texture and depth,” agrees Brandon. “When I’m trying to create a heavily layered look, the texture that a textile brings is a great way to achieve it,” he adds.
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 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.
As for where to buy them, there are simply endless sources. Some are best rummaged out of antiques shops, markets, auctions and car boot sales (this really can be the realm of one man's trash is another's treasure when you look at textiles in a new light) but there are also various designs created solely for frames, which can be on the higher end of the cost spectrum. On that end, Brandon recommends “the Porthia Prints (by Denis Mitchell) — super cool and nicely priced to collect at auction” while Loom deals in bright, bold modern framed pieces. Houlston is an excellent source of antique textiles already framed if the thought of searching through shops and framing yourself does not appeal, and offers everything from needlework to felt pieces. Many of our Top 100 source their antique textiles from renowned dealer Katharine Pole, For suzani fans, Francesca Gentilli is the place to go, with a wide selection of framed suzanis picked up from her sourcing trips across the globe. Her selection of antique fragments is a brilliant way to bring colour and pattern to any room. Last but by no means least, we've long been fans of The Fabled Thread, where you can buy kits to create your own embroidery or needlepoint before having it framed.
