New KOTHEA Collections for Spring 2016. Textured upholstery,sumptuous textured weaves, mohair and silk velvets, faux leathers and new colours for our existing Cashmere Throw range. Sampling available on our <home page>.
Spring 2016
Faux Leather For Flooring
KOTHEA was asked if Faux Leather could be used as flooring. We have experience of putting faux leather just about on any surface: in yachts, in hotels, in villas, on doors, on walls, on bars and of course on furniture. But sadly no experience with floors.
Some of the faux leathers/faux skins we sell have a Martindale / Rub test of over 100,000. This is suitable for HEAVY/CONTRACT upholstery. However to extrapolate that to even light use flooring is risky. The rub test mimics more the action of sitting rather than being walked upon. The forces exerted by walking, running and carrying things on faux leather would be much more than in seating areas. This would be further complicated by the adhesive which would have to be both perfectly bonded throughout the entire area in contact with the floor (possible) and the adhesive would have to be strong (possible).
Having said that I have a sneaky feeling that it is possible in reasonably low traffic areas. After all it is possible to buy leather tiles. Perhaps also the covering applied after laying can improve stability and durability. If you would like me to give a more definitive response on this issue please leave a comment.
Fabric Treatment Companies – FR Flameproofing
We are often asked to recommend fabric treatment companies for flame retarding in contract installations. Most treatment companies offer other services such as; back coating fabric for walls and stain resistance/repellency. There are several such companies in the UK and at various times we have used all of the following:
Textiles FR, and
Just click the company name to take you to their web site. Please feel free to add comments to this posting recommending any suppliers you have used but any negative comments about other companies are not permitted on this site. Thank you.
Fabric Tips #13: Velvet Curtain Making
Here are some additional pointers to consider when you are making a curtain using a velvet. Remember that a velvet is just a type of fabric and the fibre(s) that the velvet is made from is important.
So for example, we would always recommend that you line a curtain. This gives a superior appearance but also reduced the amount of light going through the fabric hence limiting as much as possible the effect of any fading.
If the velvet has a pile that can be flattened in one direction then we would recommend that you have the pile going downwards for SHINY velvet fabrics and PATTERNED VELVETS.
If however you make up the curtain with the pile upwards then this will deepen the colour so you could make the curtains this way for cotton velvets and Trevira Velvet and Mohair velvets.
These are general guidelines and it is not necessarily wrong if you make up the curtain ‘the other way’ just so long as you understand the implications to the finished look and performance of the material.
Related Articles
- Plus Size Velvet (fatchic.net)
- New Fabric Trends Update Your Decor (chicagonow.com)
- Mohair Velvet & Other Velvets (kothea.com)
- How-To: Custom Rollup Curtains (craftzine.com)
- Roller curtains with your graphics on them (hackaday.com)
- Fabric Tips #11: Mohair Velvet – How To Store (kothea.com)
- Fabric Tips #12: Rolling a velvet (kothea.com)
Press Release | Interiors | Fabrics | KOTHEA | Aug2009
KOTHEA Release New Fabric For Interiors
LONDON, England. 03-AUGUST-2009 11.30 AM: KOTHEA today announced it has expanded its extensive curtain fabric collection by the addition of KOOMEGA DUPION. KOOMEGA DUPION is a highly unusual contract fabric – on the face of it a superb silk for contract curtain usage with washability and both daylight colour fastness and UV resistance. Yet these are not characteristics not usually associated with silk. 28 colours make it a steadfast choice with more than enough colour options for every scheme. The beautiful fabric looks the part of the finest silk, yet it is a silk alternative, attractively priced for high volume contracts and desirable for domestic usages where silk is required in high-light conditions.
KOOMEGADUPION
Reference: 20-001-452
Colour Shown: Pink
Other colourways: 28
Width: 158cm
Repeat: none
Composition: 100% Polyester
Martindale: na
Primary Usage: Curtains, contract & domestic.
Type of fabric: Silk alternative
About KOTHEA.
KOTHEA are a top-market fabric house based in London serving customers throughout all of Europe and The Middle East. Founded in 1999 they have since continued to develop and sell an extensive range of timeless fabrics to the top architects, interior- and yacht-designers for projects ranging from mega-yachts to boutique hotels and from luxury spas to penthouses.
KOTHEA operate on a trade-only basis and their fabrics are available to the public through interior designers and specialist interior design shops such as Gotham, Interiors Bis and Fiona Campbell. KOTHEA also supply beautiful hand-woven linen fabrics and finished goods – throws and table linen.
KOTHEA’s trade customers would perceive their signature fabrics to include several ranges of velvet including the exclusive ‘cashmere silk velvet’, silks, linens, double-width sheers, faux leather and interesting weaves for upholstery often with high Martindale ‘rub tests’ making them highly suited to both contract and residential projects.
Founder and Executive Director, Lisa Parsons started KOTHEA more than 10 years ago after 11 highly successful years with Nobilis Fontan in Chelsea and Donghia in Chelsea Harbour. She says, “At KOTHEA we like to think we bring something a little different to the market. Our difference will be reflected in our customers’ eyes by unusual fabrics that complement our core fabric ranges; all augmented by our excellent levels of customers service, market knowledge and attention to detail.”
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