Hello there, and Happy Friday!
I know I’ve been talking turkey on textiles for the past couple of weeks, so I just figured I’d keep on the theme with today’s (is it National Fabric Performance Awareness Month??).
While at the Boston Design Center this week, a window display at the Romo showroom stopped me in my tracks. It was one of those tipped-over glasses with fake red wine spilling out of it atop a velvet-upholstered ottoman. I am like a moth to the flame when it comes to those fake spilled wine glasses!
Anyway, I popped in and I’m so glad I did, because I learned all about two new collections of ‘EasyClean’ fabrics from Villa Nova, which is one of Romo’s lines. Of the many performance fabric options available in the marketplace today, these are notable because stains are cleaned with WATER.
No soap, no solvents, no special spot treatments – JUST WATER.
And what kind of stains are we talking about? How about raspberries, wine (the real stuff), muddy paw prints, and INK??
‘Cambay’ is a finely-textured plain woven with a linen look, in 100% polyester. It is a hard-wearing upholstery fabric with a high rub count (100K Martindale), but it drapes well enough to use in window treatment applications. Best of all, it comes in 28 colorways (including the white shown in the video).
‘Atil’ is a 100% polyester velvet, also with 100K Martindale rubs. It is on the lustrous side, as most poly velvets are (might be good or bad, depending on your need), and it has a wonderful, soft hand. Oh, and how does 41 colorways strike you?
The products target the residential (design) market, though Romo classifies them as ‘Contract’ (commercial), because they meet the stringent codes, regulations, durability and abrasion-resistance standards to be used in those settings, as well.
I still can’t get over the cleaning instructions for these fabrics. JUST WATER! This in stark contrast to a post I wrote last week, where ‘just water’ is enough to RUIN a different kind of fabric!
Villa Nova fabrics like these are available through designers (like me!).
