Fabric Wallpapers

Wallpaper has undergone something of a revolution in recent years with an increasing addition of new textures and materials giving rise to a resurgence in popularity and endless design possibilities. 

After a dip in popularity in the 1980s the current wallpaper revival can be traced to the 1990s when the fashion for feature walls allowed for bolder, bigger designs. This was enhanced further by the developments in digital printing, as well as interest in reviving previous printing techniques, both of which allowed the market to open up to artists and freelance designers. Alongside this opening up of the market came fresh impetus for innovation, new designs, new materials and techniques. Significant advances in bonding and manufacturing processes made it possible for an ever increasing range of materials to be used as wallpaper and wallcoverings, not just fabrics but all manner of natural and plant based materials have found their way onto our walls thanks to these developments, with the likes of mother of pearl, water hyacinth, coco shells, banana leaves, bark, wood veneer, cork, arrowroot and more finding their way onto our walls and offering unique textures, grains, patterns and designs.

The range of fabric wallpapers has also grown in parallel to these technological developments, as well as traditional wallcoverings of grasscloth and silk, it is now possible to find wallpapers in boucle, corduroy, suede, leather, denim and more. Fabric wallcoverings are warm and comforting, with textures which draw the room in and delight the senses.

Silk Wallpaper

There is a huge variety of silk wallpapers available, the lightweight quality of silk means every type of silk is capable of being paper backed for use as a wallcovering. For example, nearly all the silks from luxury silk manufacturer James Hare, for example, can be made into a bespoke wallcovering. With over 700 colours available on a wide range of plain and patterned silks, there are thousands of options to choose from. Shown below is their beautiful Persia Jacquard weave silk made into a bespoke wallcovering.

Whilst it is possible to use any silk as a wallcovering, Dupion, the world’s most popular silk, or raw silk both work incredibly well. The unique beauty created by the irregular slubs found in Dupion and raw silk catch the light enhancing the beauty of the silk wallcovering. As well as James Hares various silk collections, Phillip Jeffries also has a wonderful range of silk wallpapers including the raw silks found in the Amalfi Silk collection.

For an alternative silk texture, Phillip Jeffries, Goldcoast Silk collection is a silk yarn fabric wallpaper with a herringbone woven design.

If you are looking for a silk wallcovering but are concerned about using it in a high traffic area, there are some fantastic vinyl and textured wallcoverings which offer the appearance of silk, such as Latus wallcovering or the Silkx collection, both from Arte.

Velvet Wallpaper

Next to grasscloth and silk the most popular fabric wallcovering is velvet. Velvet has always been synonymous with luxury and elegance, and velvet wallcoverings retain this sumptuous opulence. with its introduction to Europe first being limited to only the most opulent royal palaces and historic houses would have been able to hang velvet tapestries on their walls. Velvet is so wonderfully tactile, it is simply irresistible to touch, and as a wallcovering this adds a sense of warmth and cosiness to any room. If you are looking for a simple all over sumptuous velvet wallpaper the appropriately named Velvet Coccon range from Phillip Jeffries, or the Alcove collection from Elitis both offer a wonderful variety of colours. 

Another fantastic quality of velvet is the way the colour changes when the fabric is rubbed in different directions, when it is used on a wall the changing light in a room throughout the day means you will catch a different essence of the fabric at different times. This effect is also enhanced through three dimensional patterns in the velvet wallcoverings. To truly get the most out of velvet wallcoverings we would recommend layering the lighting in your room, that way you will be able to pick up different colours and elements of the design throughout the day as you change the way the light is cast.

A fine example of velvet wallpaper with a 3-dimensional design is Velveteen from Arte which includes 4 striking designs each available in 5 different colourways ranging from blush and pastel shades to bolder deeper reds, yellows, greens and blues. Choose from the broken swirls and twirls of Twirl, the geometric designs of Tetra and Pectra or the columnar lines of Ridge.

For an even more textured contrast, Stripe, Velvet and Lin from Arte’s Flamant Suite III – Velvet wallcovering collection, offers alternate velvet and linen striped wallpaper. This fabulous double-textured fabric wallcovering is available in 11 colourways. 

Choosing a velvet wallpaper doesn't preclude you from having a printed design, Rendezvous Tokyo Blue wallcovering from Arte offers a wonderful Japanese inspired design with playful Indigo Macaques in traditional kimonos amdist a lush vibrant forest of exotic flowers. The design is printed onto a denim texture with a velvety finish. 

Velvet wallpapers also include flock wallpapers, these traditional tactile wallpapers offer a touch of velvet without filling the room. As well as the more traditional and ever-popular classic motif designs, such as Designers Guild’s Fivoaranti Noir, more contemporary flock wallpapers are available, including geometric prints, such as Chareau from Designers Guild (shown below), animal prints, such as the Sundra flock wallpaper by GP & J Baker, as well as flock wallpapers with silhouettes of people and animals.

Boucle Wallpaper

The warmth and softness of bouclé fabric makes it an ever popular choice for cushions and upholstery and so it seems inevitable that it would find its way onto our walls as well. There are not many options available for Bouclé Wallpaper but the Curve wallcovering from Arte offers a warm 3d bouclé with soft rounded shapes in a subtle grid pattern. Offered as part of their Icons wallcoverings collection, Curve is available in a deep green, a chocolate brown as well as the more traditional boucle colours of cream and white.

Corduroy Wallpaper

The textured pattern of corduroy works incredibly well as a wallcovering, with the interplay of light with the ridges and valleys providing added interest. The new Corduroy Cloth collection from Phillip Jeffries offers a quality corduroy wallcovering in 12 colourways.

Denim Wallpaper

Denim wallcoverings are perhaps less well known than their velvet counterparts but the choice of denim as a wallcovering makes perfect sense, denim is bot warming and hard-wearing but with a familiarity and softness. For a simple denim design, the Denim Walls collection from Phillip Jeffries offers five different denim wallcoverings including a white denim and a stonewash denim as well as the more traditional blues and indigos. The denim is expertly laminated with an anti-fray treatment for a more durable finish.

The Indigo Macaque wallpaper from Arte, part of their collaboration with Moooi, is a wonderful example of a patterned denim wallcovering. The embroidery design is perfectly picked out by the lustre of the embroidery sitting in contrast to the flatter matt of the denim. The design is of Indigo Macaques relaxing in hot springs at the foot of the Japanese mountains. 

For a three-dimensional denim wallpaper with an interesting design, consider Shoji Blossom from Arte. Inspired by Japanese Shoji screens the design is of traditional Japanese cherry blossoms in a panel arrangement. The monotone 3D wallcovering is made from denim or felted wool and radiates a reassuring warmth and tranquillity.

Linen Wallpaper

Raffia & Jute Wallpapers

Les Cuirs from Arte is a fantastic collection of leather wallpapers. The natural variations of leather are enhanced by the use of course stitching to add to the impression of well-travelled leather. The collection of leather wallpapers is available in three distinct designs, patchwork squares or rectangles, or the parquet arrangement of montage, in up to 16 colourways.

For a faux-leather alternative, consider Schumacher's Canyon Leather and Sueded Leather collections both offer a realistic looking faux leather and rubbed leather wallpaper with colourways which reflect traditional leather dyes. Or for a plain faux-suede wallpaper, consider Phillip Jeffries' Suede Lounge collection. These tactile wallcoverings have the look and feel of suede and are available in an impressive 21 colourways.

For a patterned alternative, Arte offer a 3d patterned faux-suede wallpaper in the form of Mimic Moth, with a design inspired by the moth and its habitat.

Grasscloth Wallpapers

Grasscloth wallpapers have a textural fabric feel although many will be made from a variety of plant based and natural fibres, not all of which would traditionally be used in manufacturing fabrics. Such is the popularity that most luxury wallpaper manufacturers offer at least one grasscloth wallpaper collection.  

If you are new to grasscloth wallpapers and are not sure which materials to look for, a good starting point is Mark Alexander’s Grasscloth collection. This collection includes wallpapers made from six different grasscloths, so you can see the difference between the various textures and weaves of the various grasses. Each grasscloth is available in up to 10 different natural and neutral colourways.

For grasscloths in bolder colours, Osborne & Little’s Kanoko Grasscloth collection, and Omexco's Seraya collections include grasscloth fabrics with some vibrant and stronger colourways.

Grasscloth papers tend to pick up their design from the variations in the threads running through the wallpaper, additional subtle detail can be added through weaving different fabrics or adding metallic yarns, such as in the Sequence collection from Harlequin, or using metallic backing papers and threads like in the Phillip Jeffries Glam Grass collection. Metallic threads work well with grasscloth wallpapers, with the metallic elements giving life to the wallpaper with the occasional sparkle or flicker as the light catches the paper.

Printed grasscloths are another emerging trend. Simone Damask Grasscloth is a simple damask pattern from Schumacher's archive, the design is printed onto their grasscloth wallpaper made from a sisal ground for an understated but elegant design. Whilst stronger print designs can be found in Schumacher's Regalia Sisal wallcovering and Halcott Sisal wallcovering. 

Wallpapers With Fabric Weaves