Decors Barbares

When I first came across Decors Barbares I was simply floored. Founder and designer Nathalie Farman-Farma has the most amazing eye for prints and patterns. The French-born, London-based designer has long been a collector of antique textiles, which is what inspired her to began printing her own interpretations of textiles from around the world as fabrics for accessories and home furnishings.

Nathalie spent years as a self proclaimed “Madeleine Castaing blue, green and black disciple,” before marrying her husband, and becoming more immersed in the textiles from his Iranian heritage. She became drawn to the folkloric themes of the textiles from Persia, and loved the mix-and-match quality of all the patterns.

As much as she loved collecting these antique textiles, she soon found they were often too fragile to actually work with, which is when she decided to begin recreating fabric inspired by this history and tradition, branching out into textiles from other regions like Central Asia and Russia. She incorporates this sense of history and storytelling into everything she does, describing this sensibility as “a mixture of fantasy and historical authenticity, more Ballets Russes than hippy chic.”

The photographs pictured here are all from Nathalie’s home in the fashionable neighborhood of Chelsea, London. They were shot for a forthcoming book called “Haute Bohemians” by Miguel-Flores Vianna, due out in October of 2017. We are so excited to get this peek inside the fanciful and fabulous home of Nathalie! I just love the way she layers prints and patterns to create a warm, welcoming space that feels like it’s just full of stories – both those inherent in the patterns she uses, and those yet to be told. Her motto: “Does it make me dream? And, How would I use it?”

Many of the fabrics incorporated in Nathalie’s home are from the Decors Barbares collection, and you can really see how passionate and fun they can be! And it’s this passion that comes through from the process and high quality production. Nathalie says that “designing fabrics allows me to reach into the past and bring little parts of it into the present.” By researching, designing, and reproducing these textiles in France, using the highest level of craftsmanship, she is at once preserving the stories of the past, while securing them for the future. Well done, Nathalie!