Surface Characteristics
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
The word "texture" derives from a Latin word meaning "to weave". It works on multiple levels, referring both to the surface characteristics of an object and to the less apparent ways that structure emerges from a gathering of individual threads.
Each material or medium possesses its own essential character. Fiber and wood are warm and nurturing, while glass is clean, utilitarian, and a platform for color. Stone is strong and stable. Metal is cool and decorative. Clay is earthy and elemental. Within each category, however, each material can display infinite nuances of texture. Wood can be varnished to a high gloss or left unsanded. Glass can be pocked and cloudy or crystal clear.
The rooms or vignettes in your home are compositions where furnishings, artwork, and other objects complement, connect with, even converse with each other. Compelling textural relationships can make the difference between rooms that merely match and rooms that have depth and soul.
A matter of degree
Like a color, a certain type of texture can dominate or work as an accent. Consider the big wooden bowls, chunky baskets, or curvy stoneware vessels—all rather rough hewn. Put them in a similarly rugged setting, complete with wide-plank floors, furniture with weathered painted finishes, and couches clad in canvas slipcovers, and you’ll have a laid-back and comfortable living room. Now picture the same pieces in a room defined by terrazzo floors and clean-lined furnishings. A few handmade, organic touches, all from the same texture family, quickly warm up a cool, contemporary space.
Theme and variation
In the above image, carefully chosen textures textures and harmonious colors support the arrangement’s overall theme of color and drama. The recycled metal BroadWay Armchair by Boris Bally pairs cool metal fabrication and clean lines. This compliments the fiber rope loops of the Knoop I coffee table by Josh Urso.
