Get Flocked

Design Ideas,Rants and Raves,Windows & Walls | May 23, 20072 Comments

Nobilis “New Look”

I’ve been having a lot of fun looking at all the new wallcovering that’s back in again. We all got sick of the faux thing. Not only is wallcovering in again, but flocked wallcovering is back, too. I’m seeing flocked fabrics, too. Here are three examples of this from French textile company Nobilis (I drooled at their store in Paris last winter). It’s not wallcovering – it’s fabric. But the idea is the same. I drool to think about this fabric on a wall and a chair, or a drape. So sensual.

Nobilis “New Look”

century. Wallpapers were available by the late 17What is flocking you say? It has an interesting history. Most people remember it as a super tacky thing you’d find somewhere like a greasy restaurant with major delusions of grandeur. It was good for a laugh and that was about it. But flocking has been around for centuries. Flock paper was originally invented to imitate cut-velvet hangings. Flock is a powdered wool, a waste product of the woollen cloth industry which had been applied to cloth in the early 17th century.

Nobilis “New Look”

The imitations of damask and velvet that we usually associate with flocking began to appear around the 1730s. Flock papers were durable and so although they were relatively expensive, they were good value for money. The flock papers had an advantage over textile wall coverings in that the turpentine in the adhesive used for fixing the flock kept them free from moths. The trend remained strong until the Victorians came along. Their penchant for sanitation and, therefore, scrubbable wallpapers, spelled the end of flocking.

This colorway comes with a coordinating velvet stripe.

In the 1950′s and 1960′s it was rediscovered as a nouveau-riche glamour paper. Think of Vegas in the ’50′s and you get the idea. A mafioso’s idea of classy.

I never thought I’d be so attracted to something I used to laugh at, but these are really beautiful. It’s one of those things that has to be done with high-end, quality materials or it just doesn’t look right. Nobilis certainly has gotten it right. They’re owned by Zoffany.