decorating
In our new column, author and cultural historian Kassia St Clair explores the origins of fabrics, starting with an unapologetically opulent textile in the midst of a very modern renaissance
Henry VIII is better known for the inconstancy of his loves than for their endurance, but one thing he did remain devoted to throughout his life was damask. It crops up in many of his portraits – his clothes fashioned from or slashed with it. A sweep of rich, leafy green damask forms the background of twin paintings of the king and Katherine of Aragon completed around 1520. It was used to bind a treasured book that had once belonged to his father; and inventories of his household recorded stockpiles of textiles, including cloth of gold, damasks and velvet, valued at more than £50,000.
Then, as now, damask was abyword for magnificence and luxury. This textile was first woven in China around 300BCE and was reserved for nobility and royalty. Originally always made from silk, over time damask came to refer to the design. Like many fabrics, definitions vary, but generally it is reversible, tightly woven with avariety of techniques to create symmetrical patterns often inspired by the natural world. The tightness of the weave is significant, because it makes the cloth thick and resistant to wear, with designs often including satin weave, which has aglossy, lustrous appearance. Silk Road traders loved it, and a remnant of this globetrotting past can be divined from the name, which comes from the Syrian city Damascus, famed for the quality of its textiles.
Damask’s fortunes changed dramatically in 1801, when the Frenchman Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented the Jacquard loom. Previously, each bolt had to be painstakingly designed and then woven by hand, but the loom (programmed using a system of punched cards) made weaving complex textiles easier and, crucially, cheaper. Unsurprisingly, this increased damask’s popularity in the 19th century, in both fashion and interiors. Since then, there have been flurries of mass-market enthusiasm: remember the deluge of flocked damask wallpapers and bedlinens during the 1990s?
Originally reserved for nobility and royalty, this glossy and lustrous fabric is being reinterpreted for a new generation
