Elevate Your Home: Hand-sewn Custom Pillows
Historically significant textiles from Italian designer Fortuny fill homes with the rich history of Europe
What could be more beautiful and meaningful than a home filled with fabrics that speak of other lands and the history of other peoples? The Wren’s founder and primary buyer, Lori Bate, searches the world for fine artisanship and craftsmanship of bespoke home furnishings to bring home to discerning U.S. homeowners and collectors. She has found a wealth of artistry in the fine cottons, velvets and silks of Venice, Italy-based Fortuny, which she brings back to the states as custom-made pillows and antique textiles that can be transformed into curtains, bed linens and much more.
Fine fabrics in a kaleidoscope of colors speak to the variety of Fortuny textiles that originate from the ancient studio and factory of Mariano Fortuny, the founder of the company. Within the walls of the renovated Palazzo Pesaro Orfei, constructed originally in the mid-1400s on the Venetian island of Giudecca in Italy, Mariano invented dyes, fashionable clothing, and printed silks and velvets. Launched in 1922, Fortuny still produces the same fine textiles in the same location that it has for more than 100 years, providing many of the same fabrics based on Mariano’s original designs.
Fortuny artisans have passed down the knowledge of these designs between generations, while creating new textiles that use the same techniques from the company’s founding days. The Wren provides luxury handmade pillows sourced from Fortuny fabrics, including classic velvets, silks and damasks as well as patterns with stripes, tribal designs, geometric shapes and florals. These pillows are works of art, yet practical enough for daily use.
Mariano Fortuny based many of his original textiles on ancient Greece and drew further design inspiration from his international travels. The pillows that are hand-sewn from these Italian fabrics can be reinterpreted beautifully in today’s homes, whether traditionally or modern styled. Perhaps an Argo velvet, named after the ancient Greek city and which references the sea and was first designed on a tunic for Mariano’s wife, would make a vibrant addition to a coastal home in the aquamarine colorway? The silvery gold and warm white of Ashanti, with its design roots deep in West Africa, would be a welcome addition to a living room that needs a bit of global flair. Or maybe a handsome striped Malmaison fabric, reminiscent of Napoleon Bonaparte’s military tent, might be just the touch called for in a modern man cave.
“You can elevate just about any room in your home with custom-made Fortuny pillows and fabrics,” says Bate. “A heritage brand like Fortuny brings the world of European design to your doorstep, encompassing the passions of a true artisan and textile designer who lived and breathed this work. We are fortunate to still have access to this textile treasure for our homes today.”
