Casamance | Orta

Orta is a polyester velvet with an embroidery worked over its surface in a tone-on-tone viscose thread, and the embroidery has been left deliberately unfinished: the loose ends of the stitches lift off the pile so the surface has real relief. The effect is of ripples on still water, which is the point, since the design takes its name from the lake in northern Italy. Up close it is textural and slightly wild; from across the room it reads as a soft, moving plain.

The ground is 100 per cent polyester with a viscose embroidery, made in India at 134 centimetres wide and 460 grams per square metre. The repeat is 47 centimetres vertically and 67 centimetres horizontally with a straight match. There are 5 colourways: Terracotta, Ocre, Beige, Vert Sauge and Kaki. Because the stitching is tone-on-tone the colour is quiet and even, so choose by the room's undertone rather than by contrast; Beige and Vert Sauge are the most forgiving.

We use Orta where the light will rake across it, because that is when the loose threads come alive: a headboard lit by a bedside lamp, the outside back of an occasional chair, a set of large cushions on a plain sofa. It also makes a curtain of real presence in a sitting room, especially in Terracotta or Kaki. It belongs to the Dolce Vita family and sits naturally next to the Dolce Vita cotton velvet in one of its 65 colours. Sold by the half metre; order a sample to see it in your own light.

For making up, treat it as a velvet: keep the pile running the same way on every panel and mark the direction on the back before cutting. The loose embroidery means it is not a fabric for high-traffic seats or anywhere hands will pick at it constantly; keep it to backs, headboards, cushions and curtains. Match the embroidery at the seams, and allow one repeat of 47 centimetres extra per drop.

• Composition: 100% polyester ground with viscose embroidery
• Width: 134 cm (53 in)
• Pattern repeat: 47 cm vertical, 67 cm horizontal
• Weight: 460 g per square metre
• Match: Straight match
• Care: Dry clean recommended
• Origin: Made in India
• Collection: Dolce Vita, Casamance
• Colourways: 5 (Terracotta, Ocre, Beige, Vert Sauge, Kaki)