Ten interior designers on the bread and butter fabrics they return to again and again

Much in the same way that many of us have a favourite fail-safe paint colour to which we frequently turn, a familiar fabric can provide a huge amount of relief when decorating a space. As much as we all like to experiment with new things – a bold wallpaper, a patterned fabric or a new paint colour – we are also designed to find comfort and safety in the familiar. Once you have found a textile which ticks all the boxes: brilliant quality, offers a range of applications, and is available in many colours (or just one pleasing colour), you are likely to adopt it into your permanent roster of decorating tools. The tricky thing is finding the reliable ones. To help with the task, we’ve crowdsourced a number of interior designers to find out what their bread and butter fabrics are. The results, which range from an electric blue shade (Rachel Chudley’s choice) to a buttery linen often used by Clare Gaskin, should make your life much easier, and save you time spent agonising.

‘I love Foss Linen by Colefax & Fowler. It’s a beautiful plain Belgium linen with a washed look that comes in a great mix of colours, and it works well both for upholstery and curtains. It would also make a great fabric walling. I also love Volterra by C&C Milano (pictured above in ’Paprilka’). Another linen, it is slightly lighter in weight and comes in a delicious mix of spicy shades.  I upholstered my sofa at home in Volterra in Paprika, seven years ago now, and I love it just as much now as I did then.

Finally, I know it’s not strictly a fabric, but I love to use Howe 36 Bourne Street leather piping for cushions. It’s more understated than a conventional trim, but incredibly chic’.

Fine Leather Piping ‘Tan’

A Westborne Grove project by Mimi Shoenide, with an armchair featuring xxxx Nubuck.

‘My go-to fabric is a soft, buttery Nubuck. I love the rich, luxurious texture and feel that Nubuck has, and it can really elevate any piece of furniture or space. It pairs wonderfully with a sleek, minimal and clean interior and I find myself particularly drawn to earthy greys, greens, and browns. My favourites are from Holly Hunt and Whistler Leather‘

The Dedham Vale cottage that Benedict shares with his partner Daniel, featuring a sofa in Bennison’s ‘Wheat Flower’

Owen Gale

‘One of my absolute fail-safes is ‘Ivy Trellis’ from my own collection that I design with my partner Daniel Slowik, Nuthall Temple. I particularly love the cornflower blue. The design was inspired by a number of Ivy leaf Victorian chintzes that I’ve carefully saved over the years. I’ve used it in every project I’ve done in the last two years and we have the blue at the cottage in Dedham Vale. I suppose it’s a bit obvious to say I love it as that’s a bit like loving your children! But I particularly love that the design has a feeling of old world charm, but is redacted to a simple outline in white on a coloured ground – it has a freshness and flexibility to it that keeps me coming back to it time and again – even despite it having been a good amount of hard work to create!

My second is a Bennison fabric: ‘Wheat Flower’. The original colour way is still my favourite but they have a number of iterations that are wonderful. The pattern is a sort of gutsy botanical which has some floral elements but a lot of its strength comes from strong serpentine movement and bold veined bocage. It has the quality of being both feminine and bold, confident without shouting, what’s not to love!’

Ivy Trellis, ‘Cornflower Blue’

‘Wheat Flower’ – Green Blue Brown on Oyster

‘The idea of leopard as a neutral is a bit overdone, but the beautiful Leopard Bon Marché from Claremont really feels like the perfect one. We’ve done cocktail chairs in this, ottomans and even the odd sofa. It’s incredibly useful for cushions to add a bit of interest, and its tapestry-like texture feels at once luxurious and hard-wearing.’

Claremont Leopard Bon Marché