de Le Cuona | Merino Velvet – Artichoke

Merino Velvet is a velvet with wool at its core, which gives it a different character from the glossy cotton and viscose velvets that fill most pattern books. We see it as a soft, dense surface that takes in light rather than throwing it back, so colour looks deep and settled instead of shiny. Artichoke is a muted, greyed green, the sort of shade that sits easily beside stone, oak and plaster walls. In a room it works as a quiet block of colour with weight, and the pile gives it body without any need for pattern.

The composition is 75% wool, 20% cotton and 5% polyester, and the cloth is 140 cm wide. It is tested to 50,000 rubs on the Martindale scale, which is well beyond what most households will ask of a sofa or a set of dining chairs. We sell it by the half metre, so you can order exactly what a pair of cushions, a footstool or a full set of curtains needs. It is suitable for both curtains and upholstery, and that rub count combined with a cloth that drapes is what makes it so useful.

We tend to use it where a room needs softness and a little gravity at the same time. Curtains in a bedroom or sitting room are the obvious place, hung generously so the pile falls into deep, quiet folds. We would also put it on a large sofa or a pair of armchairs, and on an upholstered headboard. Pair it with undyed linen, pale oak and limewashed walls, and keep the other fabrics in the room flat and natural so the velvet reads as the one rich surface.

Velvet needs a careful workroom. Ask your upholsterer or curtain maker to cut every piece with the pile running in the same direction, because the colour shifts visibly if pieces are mixed. For curtains we would line and interline them, which adds weight and keeps the colour from looking flat against a bright window. Allow a little extra for cutting, and order the full quantity in one go so it all comes from the same dye batch. Ask for a sample first and look at it in the room, in morning and evening light.