When starting to work on a design project my first step would always be to build a profile of the client and his inner circle. So the typical questions are: Are you right-handed or left-handed? Do you prefer to have breakfast at home or just have dinner? Do you have guests on weekends? What are your hobbies?
Our ancestors came to creating fabric firstly because they needed to hide from weather: climatic cooling urged them to use animal skins to protect themselves from weather, later they developed hide currying and other methods and started to produce fabrics. As the idea of private property was introduced people’s imagination starting flourishing, which concerned textile production as well. A need to keep hidden one’s body and home from prying eyes emerged.
Surprisingly most people could afford a fur coat while fabrics were at a premium.
The nobles used them not only to create outfits, but also for home decoration – after all, it was indicating wealth and luxury.
Priceless fabrics
The first mentions of cloth production from plant raw materials date back to the 8th century BC, these were linen fabrics. For example, in Ancient Greece and Rome, linen was a symbol of purity; Egyptian fine linen “byssus” was known throughout the ancient world and was very expensive; in Egypt it was a symbol of power and was used to mummify the pharaohs.
Now linen is used together with artificial fiber, it is easier to care for and is more durable. I would like to stress that linen as an excellent solution for eco-style designs. It adds texture and softness, but doesn’t pull attention.
Cotton was known even among the ancient Aztecs, the artifacts date back to the 6th century BC. However, it is generally considered that cotton was brought to Europe and then spread from India. Alexander the Great much contributed to this process, bringing unprecedentedly beautiful multi-colored printed fabrics to Europe and Asia – you can only imagine the level of Indian textile production. Indians were very sensitive about cotton that was godsend, it is mentioned in scriptures. For a long time, Arab traders imported cotton fabrics to Europe, myths were created about cotton: as if it was obtained from a lamb plant, which was connected to the ground by an umbilical cord.
It’s hard to imagine our life without cotton today. It is used for upholstery together with bamboo, and with linen for curtains.
By the way, if you want beautiful and long-lasting curtains, you should choose cotton / polyester combination, which is more durable and easier to clean. Natural materials are now more affordable than they used to be. It is a mistake to think of it as expensive material.
In ancient Babylon, already in the 5th century BC, woolen fabrics were produced, the dyeing technology (in purple) was also introduced – the dye was extracted from mollusks. And such fabrics were very expensive.
Currently wool is still the most expensive fabric, as compared to others. Wool fabrics are typically used in cabinets and living rooms, because they require special treatment. These fabrics cannot be washed, dry clean only.
The Silk Road to Europe was long and expensive. In China, silk fabrics were already known in the 4th century BC. According to a legend, the Chinese empress Heng Ling-Chi accidentally dropped a silkworm cocoon into hot water and it began to unravel in the finest threads – this is how silk was born.
China kept its production techniques top secret: silkworm larvae could not be exported from the Celestial Empire under penalty of death; it was not for nothing that it was called the “Chinese gold.” Only in the middle of the 1st century, the Byzantine monks-preachers managed to deliver the larvae to Europe, secretly carrying them out in cane handles, but this is still a myth. It is known that around the same time the Arabs began to produce silk fabrics.