TAPESTRY, AN INTERIOR DESIGN PIECE

Textile materials represent the most accessible and economical decoration objects that create or enhance a certain style of interior design. Starting from curtains and drapes, to carpets, blankets or tablecloths, fabrics add value to every room. Fabrics have been used since ancient times in Romanian homes, both for functional and decorative purposes. Today, interior designers are inspired by traditional fabrics, which they reinterpret and adapt to modern spaces, capitalizing on the national traditional vein.

Romanian traditional fabrics

On the territory of Romania, weaving is a craft known since the Neolithic, the oldest fragment of fabric being attested on the bottom of a vessel discovered in Aldeni, Buzau county.

The textile materials were originally made with the vertical loom (haute lisse, Gobelins type). The horizontal loom (basse lisse, Beauvais type) was attested on Romanian territory only in the 10th-12th centuries, as evidenced by the textile fragments found in Garvăn-Dinogeţia (Tulcea).

In Romanian rural houses there were many types of fabrics, which can be divided into two large categories:

• Fabrics for household use – represented by traditional types of carpets and coverlets named “ţol”, „cergă”, „lăicere” or „macaturi”, tablecloths, pillowcases, sheets (named ”prostiri”), cheese strainers, sacks. They are made of hemp, linen and wool.
• Decorative fabrics – represented by traditional types of carpets, coverlets and towels named ”lăicer”, ”scoarţă”, ”macat”, ”velinţă” and ”ştergar”, tablecloths, wall covers (named ”prostiri de culme”), pillowcases, curtains. They are made of linen, wool, cotton and ”borangic” (gossamer silk) and less often of hemp.

Decorative motifs in Romanian tapestry

The decorative motifs of the Romanian tapestry go from simple lines and stripes that decorate the towels and carpet (such as ”ștergare” and ”lăicere”) to more complex representations, found on carpets from specific region of the country, such as Moldova and Oltenia.

The decorative motifs are geometric, phytomorphic, zoomorphic or anthropomorphic. The most common geometric motif is the rhombus, found in all regions. Other common geometric motifs are the cross, the zigzag line, the hook, the square and meanders.

The motif of the tree, representing the tree of life, is the most common motif of plant inspiration. Other plant motifs used in Romanian tapestry are flowers, branches, garland or wreath. The carpets called ”scoarță” also feature motifs such as the bird, the aurochs’ head (specific to Moldova), various animals, but also female and male characters.

Modern tapestry, art piece in interior design

Today’s textile materials derive from two main sources: ancient craftsmanship and modern science. Modern tapestry aligns itself with the technical revolution, sometimes leaving the classic models, stepping into an infinity of inventive possibilities, both in the making of fabrics and in the materials used for it.

If traditional tapestry portrayed subjects of a decorative nature, for example on historical or allegorical themes, modern two-dimensional or three-dimensional tapestry can be figurative or abstract.

In general, the forms are simple, even minimalistic, but when creating an object or a fabric, highly complex technologies are combined, which constitute the means of conversion into the contemporary – or, sometimes, the future – of existing elements and used by hundreds and thousands of years. Sometimes, the materials used have a rough appearance, but today’s technical possibilities allow their structuring, getting out of the materials from the apparent two-dimensionality and creating a visible third dimension; everything contributes to the harmonious combination of the contemporary and the ethnic.

Like a work of art, a luxurious massive tapestry creates today a special atmosphere in any room, whether it decorates a bedroom, living room, children’s room or even the kitchen.