FABRICS FOR CURTAINS
When choosing curtains for a room, you need to consider the type of fabric most suitable for the job in hand. For example, if you want a curtain to give you privacy but still allow air to flow into the room, then cotton or linen would be an obvious choice. However, if you want to block out light and add drama to a room, velvet or a heavy polyester would be a good option. Linen has become especially popular these days, as it is very practical. It is washable and can withstand a certain amount of wear and tear – ideal if the room is often visited by children or pets. If the space is small, avoid busy patterns and hang your curtain as high as possible to make the room feel taller than it is – creating a sense of space. Here are some excellent ideas for spring…
Pepe Peñalver’s new Gaula collection is inspired by the colours, craftsmanship and nature of Madeira (www.pepepenalver.com).
An artist’s brushstroke is perfectly trans posed into a finely woven cotton jacquard for Larsen’s Brush collection and the beautifully smooth drape in their Ebony colourway. Larsen is available from Alison Bethell-Collins Interior Design in Avda. del Mediterráneo, San Pedro de Alcántara (www.alisonbethellcollins.com).
Lola from Création Baumann’s Joy of Life collec tion is a decorative transparent fabric in flame-retardant high-quality polyester. Its fresh and contemporary look gives any room a sophisticated airy feel. Available from Cortidea on the Mijas Road and in Urb. Marbella Real (www.cortidea.es) and Arte del Lusso in C/ Lagasca in San Pedro de Alcántara (www.artedellusso.es).
Zinc’s Wriggle Buff hand-painted linen col lection is simplistic and cutting-edge. Wriggle is a trib al-inspired pattern with lustrous metallics on a fluid pure linen. Zinc is available through Alison Bethell-Collins In terior Design (www.alisonbethellcollins.com) and Arte del Lusso (www.artedellusso.es). Both showrooms are situat ed in San Pedro de Alcántara.
Kvadrat’s Storylines collection is inspired by nat ural light and midnight skies and is made up of refined materials and compositions that are crafted exclusively from natural or fabricated fibres (www.kvadrat.dk).
Les Merveilles d’Egypte is a collaboration between Pierre Frey, The Louvre museum and artist and designer Louis Barthélemy, who lives between Marrakech, Cairo and Paris. The fabric collection acknowledges tradition whilst embrac ing contemporary style. The design celebrates luxuriant fau na and flora embroidered on linen, while the jacquards and prints remind you of hieroglyphics and frescoes found in an cient buildings. Pierre Frey is available through GC Studio in CC Camoján Corner in Marbella (www.gc-studio.es).
Osborne & Little’s hand-painted Netherfield design from their Mansfield Park collection depicts woodpeckers, jays, blue-tits and other English garden birds perched in leafy branches and digitally printed on a linen union twill. Osborne & Little is available from Cortidea on the Mijas Road and in Urb. Marbella Real (www.cortidea.es).
Camengo’s new Porquerolles collection has a pigment printed on an acrylic fabric, making it highly durable and ideal for outdoor use. The weave creates a beautiful effect on the fabric, where a botanical water-colour design is emblazoned in either soft or bold colours in a contemporary palette that comes in three colourways. Camengo is available from Alison Bethell-Collins Interior Design in Avda. del Mediterráneo in San Pedro de Alcántara (www.alisonbethellcollins.com), Cortidea on the Mijas Road and in Urb. Marbella Real (www.cortidea. es), Arte del Lusso in C/ Lagasca in San Pedro de Alcántara (www.artedellusso.es) and GC Studio in CC Camoján Corner in Marbella (www.gc-studio.es).