Rubelli | Ivy

Vine branches climb the cloth in a waving vertical, throwing off leaves, tendrils and bunches of fruit as they go. The drawing is neoclassical, ordered and fairly restrained, and it repeats every 50 cm.

The pile is worked in organzino cinque capi, a five-ply organzine silk, and Rubelli names it as one of two reasons the cloth stands where it does. The other is that the weaving is entirely by hand. Between them they are why the cut and looped figure appears to lift off the bright satin ground rather than lie within it, with colour contrast doing the rest of the work.

At 180 g this is light for a velvet, and what weight there is sits in the pile. 60 cm wide, one colourway, woven at Cucciago at a few centimetres a day. Use it where it will be handled and looked at: a cushion, a panel, a chair back. Made in Italy.