Rubelli | Corsini

The specification tells you most of what matters. A silk pile on a ground of silk and viscose, eleven percent of it metallic thread, at 260 g on a 60 cm width. That width is the loom's rather than a decision: these velvets are woven by hand at Rubelli's Cucciago mill on looms built in the nineteenth century, and 60 cm is what such a loom gives.

The soprarizzo method sets cut pile against uncut loop, so the figure shows as a change of surface rather than a change of colour, and the metallic weft adds a third register, throwing light from the ground where neither pile does. The repeat is 35 cm, so a whole unit sits comfortably inside a cushion or a chair back.

Two colourways. Output runs to a few centimetres a day, and the cloth is for panels, cushions and chair backs rather than for wear. Made in Italy.