I rediscovered this perfect marriage between soft and hard window treatment (with blackout shades behind) in my mother’s master bedroom while my daughter was trying on one of grandma’s wigs.

Shades on rollers are most often a synthetic material or of a “woven” plastic that allows some light in. There is also the blackout variety that blocks out any light. We can also find rollers in natural material such as rattan. 

Light creates shadow

on the curtains 

ORIENTING OURSELVES TO WHAT DIRECTION OUR WINDOWS FACE

JIYU GAKUEN - a woman’s college in Tokyo designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  

The curtains are drawn in the photo to the right, whereas in the photo to the left curtains have been removed and the walls bathed in a soft yellow color . 

Recalling what Candace Wheeler had to say,

“In a room with little natural light warm colors in the curtains; golds, oranges, yellows or reds, will give an effect of more natural light and make the room seem less gloomy.…these thin yellow silk curtains cross each other so the whole window-space radiates yellow light.

COLOR CHOICES

The choices are either to blend the color of the curtain material with the wall color making it (a shade) lighter or (a tint) darker than the walls. What fun to contrast the under gauze in an analogous color - remembering for a low lit room to use a warm color to bring a little sunshine in and conversely for a warmly lit room, bringing down the warmth factor with a cooler color.

material on the ceiling

Russell Wright, the architect and well known for his mid-century ceramics, stretched burlap under a recessed light box placed on the ceiling.

MICA ERTEGEN– is one designer who is keenly aware of textiles and the story they tell. Although Romanian in origin, she lived with her husband in Turkey.

Dressing up is all about adding color and pattern to the human form. That’s exactly what HOLLAND AND SHERRY do with drapery. Theyhave some of the most beautiful curtain material - embellishing their material with borders of appliqué embroidery in contrasting threads with ‘to die for’ motifs that look like they are dancing up and down the panels. I was told that the designer Nicolas Chambeyron who previously worked for the couturier Christian Dior designed their embroideries. And what a great job he did!

In traditional Japanese culture curtains did not exist. Instead they used sliding wooden screens and paper to separate house from garden, room from room and windows from the outside world. In the mid-20C this concept influenced Western culture and taught us that it’s alright not to have layers of fabric on our windows. In the United States we’ve integrated the interior décor of other cultures: Japanese shoji (paper and wood), sea grass wall coverings from Southeast Asia as well as sisal and rattan shades. We’ve come to welcome these alternative materials that don’t use yardage to embellish. Something generations before consumed when they were concerned with keeping the warmth contained. 

Well before Knoll picked up on the idea, 3Form translucent panels played on this marriage of hard and soft materials. But this translucency actually got its experimental start with the incomparable Russell Wright (move over Knoll’s Suzanne Tick + 3Form). On my recent visit to his private residence in Manitoba, this earliest practitioner, Russell Wright, revealed his playful spirit. I was struck by his layering of plastics and natural materials - butterflies, ferns, leaves and in the 50’s using eco friendly discarded paper rolls. The light creates stacked layers of translucency.