Haute Couture Decor

Lusso Global Style

High Fashion Fabrics

Words: Natali Bannister www.queenslandhomes.com.au

For more than a century, Swiss fabric company Jakob Schlaepfer has been creating fabrics that defy the imagination. With exquisite embellishments, whimsical prints, hand crafted patterns, and eye-popping artistic flair, their fabrics are renowned as some of the most ground breaking textiles in the world. From the Haute Couture collections of the biggest names in fashion - including Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Marc Jacobs and Prada to name just a few - through to decor collections that bring a world of fantasy to interior design, Jakob Schlaepfer fabrics are always opulent and ever exquisite.

Italian designer Romeo Gigli summed up their high fashion allure when he said "Schlaepfer's creative designers succeed in combining everything that implies handcraft with everything that technology can produce." They are, without compromise, one of the world's greatest influences on current and future trends both on the runway and in the home.

Consider this: fabrics made of metal that weigh only five grams per metre; a design with over a million sequins per square metre; or the overlapping, reversible paillette embroidery of the award winning Pollock collection, that can be turned by hand from one side to the other, from one colour combination to the next - bright to matt, from plain to printed, from shimmering to iridescent.  Each handcrafted design is more extrordinary than the next, and can be used in everything from wall coverings to drapery and upholstery.

For their fabric wallcoverings, the Jakob Schlaepfer team found inspiration everywhere: they photographed over 40 different images, using bunches of flowers from their own garden, Moorish floor tiles, plates and Chinese vases. This decadent mix was turned into an eclectic and rich collage, saturated with colour and pattern and colliding print. The result was "Glinka" - a collection of five different designs on printed fabris bonded with special foil, to keep the surface wipe-able and hardwearing. Glinka can be pasted straight on to the wall or mounted on panels, or even sandwiched between glass sheets and then backlit for full effect. In other words, you can use it everywhere from floor to ceilings and walls!

Lusso is the exclusive Queensland stockist of Jakob Schlaepfer decor fabrics. You can visit our showroom at the Brickworks Annex, 21/19 Warehouse Road, Southport Queensland.