Exotic Style
Decorating Ideas From Around the World

Bringing Exotic Fabrics Home, by Sara Bliss

"Whether you're searching for radiantly colorful silks, crisp linens, or vintage embroidered cottons, there are millions of incredibly enticing global textiles for you to choose from. What to do with your eye-catching fabrics when you bring them home? Textile designer John Robshaw, who produces fabrics employing age-old techniques in India, Thailand, and Indonesia, offers some suggestions on decorating with ethnic textiles:

"Learn about how specific textiles were traditionally used—perhaps they were made for temple decorations, as room dividers, or wedding sarongs—then be creative and use them in your own way.

"Use richly colored Indian saris as window panels. Saris measure approximately 5 yards by 44 inches (4.6 m by 113 cm). Throw one over a curtain rod so it becomes a flat panel, or wrap one around the rod as a window dressing. Another option is to hang two to form more traditional curtains.

"In Indonesia, locals wear Batik sarongs, but sarongs are also the perfect size for a festive (and washable) tablecloth. The exquisite hand-drawn batiks also look amazing as art, hung flat on a wall.

"Try covering a set of dining chairs with antique Thai silks. Each chair will be unique, but the patterns, colors, and material will complement each other.

"Embroidered Laos shawls are the perfect length to go across a dining room table for a gorgeous table runner.

"Gents wool shawls from India come in brown, gray, and cream and can be wrapped as shawls on cold nights, as they do in Delhi, or used as warm blankets or throws.

"When you are hunting for fabrics abroad, always ask the locals where to buy fabrics, and don't miss the bazaars and outdoor markets. In India you can visit sari shops and find hundreds of beautiful designs."

[captions: "Above: In John Robshaw's studio in New York he's gathered a lively mix of his designs crafted in Southeast Asia including colorful vegetable dyed block printed textiles, and indigo dyed resist printed fabrics, and batiks. "Opposite: John Robshaw Textile designs, mixed with antique textiles from his collection, adorn a Long Island barn. The exotic hues feel right at home in this classic American setting."]