Teixits Viçens: Artisan fabric to decorate your home
Dressing your dream Mallorcan home is all about authenticity. From the outside, the setting, the neighbours, the style is as Mallorcan as they come, but once inside, how can you keep that Mallorca feeling to complete your island hideaway? Soft furnishing is a crucial part of house dressing. Just as great shoes and a handbag can enrich an outfit, curtains and cushions can instantly fancify a house. And in Mallorca nothing is more fitting than traditional Ikat fabric.
So quintessentially Mallorcan, this fabric is only made here on the island and only a few manufacturers still make it. Called the ‘cloth of tongues’, Mallorca’s own Ikat fabric is something that harks back to the days of the silk route. In fact it can be traced along the route from Indonesia and South East Asia to India and central Asia, down to Europe and to South America.
The main characteristic of Ikat is that the thread is dyed before it’s woven. Using a ‘resist dyeing’ process, parts of the thread are left untouched by the dye thanks to a waxtype coating. When the bindings are removed, the multi-coloured thread is then woven into the timehonoured cloth of tongue patterns that are so unique to the island.
The material, classic yet funky, hardwearing yet exotic, perfectly suits a Mallorcan house which is usually minimal in an endearing rustic way. Whether it’s to make curtains, cover a chair, cushions or even to hang on the wall, the cloth of tongues gives your house a touch of traditional Mallorca while adding vivid colours (blues, reds, purples and greens) that stand so well against the neutral palette of the house itself.
The main producers of the fabric are Teixits Vicens, Teixits Riera, Artesania Textil Bujosa and one look at their websites will tell you how stylish and essential the style is for your home here. Not exactly trendy, this fabric is stylish and effortlessly cool, it is ultimately timeless Mallorca Chic.
