de Le Cuona | Handwoven Wild Silk Cushion – Natural

This is a cushion made from handwoven wild silk, in a colour called Natural. The thing to understand about wild silk is that it is never perfectly even. The yarn carries small slubs and variations in thickness, and the surface has a dry, slightly nubbly hand rather than the slippery gloss most people expect from silk. In a room it reads as a soft, matte texture that catches light unevenly, which gives a plain colour more life than a flat weave would.

The cushion is 35 cm wide and is sold each, so it is a small, square-ish scatter size rather than a large floor or bolster cushion. The cover is handwoven wild silk, and it comes from de Le Cuona, a house we have worked with for a long time and trust for its plain, honest cloths. We have no further composition or care detail to give you here, so please ask us if you need the filling or the full specification before you order.

We tend to use a cushion at this scale as a final layer rather than the main event. Two or three along the back of a linen sofa work well, or one placed against the pillows of a bed to break up a run of white. It also suits a window seat, where the size sits comfortably against the wall. For pairing, we would set it beside heavier, more matte fabrics such as boucle, wool or a washed linen, and let the silk be the quiet, slightly lustrous note among them.

For care and placement, remember that natural silk is a delicate fibre and does not enjoy strong sunlight or heavy daily wear. We would keep it on a bed, a sofa that is not in constant use, or a seat away from a south-facing window, rather than on a chair that takes hard use. Plump it by hand, avoid perching on it, and check the cleaning advice with us before anything goes near water. Because the cloth is handwoven, small variations from one cushion to the next are part of the character, not a fault.