Emerging Vintage Textile Cushion trends

Adorning your home with vintage textile cushions isn't just a style statement; it's like wearing a badge that says, 'I'm chic and my decor has a conscience.' Consider it the interior design equivalent of rescuing a puppy – everyone can't help but admire your good taste and big heart. 

I’ll be highlighting six of my favourite indigenous textile cushions - and I’ve chosen a variety of styles so there is sure to be something for everyone.

VINTAGE BAULE TEXTILE CUSHIONS
I’ve started with these textile cushions for a couple of reasons. The first is I don’t want to scare off the more cautious decorator - and these will easily work in any contemporary room. The second reason is its a fairly new textile to hit the western market and I find it exciting to watch its young evolution.

In the interest of transparency - I didn’t like them to start with. But I justify this by saying the first few I saw were simply badly curated. Maybe even a random tourist putting a handful on Etsy. This practise alone is enough to put the uninitiated off fascinating and beautiful textiles. 
Baule textiles are nearly always blue with an eccentric, abstract and completely random take on the basic basketweave pattern. They look simple but as usual the most beautifully proportioned simple designs are bloody hard to achieve. 

VINTAGE FRAZADA TEXTILE CUSHIONS
A textile of such cheerful proportions, guaranteed to blow away the cobwebs of boring bandwagon-ness. Even one frazada throw blanket or a pair of cushions will lift a lifeless room into light-heartedness.

These have been in the western market for decades - but if you don’t know about them then you’re missing out. Ridiculously thick and heavy, they give the perfect textural, tactile, one could almost say raw touch to a room. The perfect foil for all those hideous machine woven cushions I know you have scattered throughout your house.
The most common colours are brilliant pinks and oranges - but with Magenta being 2023 colour of the year I say dive right in and get yourself a scattering of sunset colours.
 

VINTAGE SUZANI TEXTILE CUSHIONS
At this point I’m feeling for those with exquisitely refined taste and their probable horror at not only my first 2 textile choices but also my slapdash writing style.

Suzani cushions are enough to soothe the most indignant of polished decorists with their superlative silk designs depicting flowers, vines and pomegranates.
The beauty of these cushions is in their symmetry, their stunning colour palettes and the fact that just possessing a pair makes you look so much more sophisticated than you actually are.
They come mostly in bold reds and a couple of divine shades of sky blue. If you’re trying to come up with what looks like a unique colour palette (unique to the masses that is) then red and blue is absolutely the direction to lean. Some very famous interior designers whom I can’t remember the names of tend to fall back on the old red and blue combo.

VINTAGE HUIPIL TEXTILE CUSHIONS
This is a hard one for me to be objective about as I lived for years in Guatemala avidly collecting huipiles. So avidly in fact that when my husband asked in a confused tone what my plan was with the piles of huipiles lying around the house, I had to invent a plan so I could continue buying them… aaaand Lamour Artisans was born.

There is no one way to describe the style of these vintage cushions, but if I was going to have a go I would say playful and joyful. There is a young energy to many of these designs, often a subtle humour in the patterns.

They have a refined rawness about them - a rawness similar to Moroccan textiles, but the intricate details in the designs add an extra layer of delicateness. They are also butter soft from fine cotton and years of river washing, very unlike the scratchiness of old Moroccan rug cushions.

If you display a couple of vintage huipil cushions in your house you are guaranteed to astonish your visitors with their origin and come off looking very worldly and well travelled. 

VINTAGE BHUJODI TEXTILE CUSHIONS
Another nod of acknowledgement to the contemporary crowd are the classic bhujodi textile cushions.

Here you have a fabulously ancient design similar to a good old plaid (but so much better) and intermingled with exquisite little geometric shapes. Proportionally these are second to none. Always the perfect combination of design and space.
They come mostly in earthy colours, a variety of blues plus your basic black, cream and white - so very perfect for the grey and beige crowd - you know who you are, and you also know now why you’ve persisted thus far with this blog. Bhujodi cushions are your reward.

VINTAGE CHINESE WEDDING & SWAT MARRIAGE CUSHIONS
These gorgeous bursts of colour with their elegant design and ‘happily ever after’ story are a favourite with designers in the know. You’ll seen them in luxury boutique hotels and they pop up occasionally in decor magazines - the European and British ones that is. Of course someone out there is curating the black and beige Chinese wedding blankets, but all in all pink, purple, fuchsia and magenta are the colours to expect.

They are an elegantly tribal mix of geometric, harlequin and lattice patterns, and these refined designs paired with the bright colours help you make the statement that you are indeed a courageous cosmopolitan. 

There ends my ramblings on my favourite subject. Links below to darling little shops specialising in curating amazing textile to make these fabulous cushions. Happy Shopping!

If you have any questions or comments about this blog I'd love to hear from you. Contact me here or message me on my Instagram page.

Willow xx

Where to buy:
African Baule Cushions - stfrank.com  morrisseyfabric.com  maewoven.com  mindaliving.com 
Peruvian Frazada Cushions - macodecor.com  llamative.com
Uzbek Suzani Cushions - kushaan.co  nushka.co.uk  sourcedbyholly.co.uk   
Guatemalan Huipil Cushions - lamourartisans.com
Indian Bhujodi Cushions - ruffledthread.com  KnobThornHome on Etsy
Chinese Wedding & Swat Valley Cushions - pennyworrall.com  francescagentilli.com     

Photo credits
Minda Living, One Affirmation, Spases, Homies Decor 
Intie Earth, Grandin Road, Sundance Catalogue, Maco Decor, Old Brand New, Alfrombas Entices, Australiana The Label 
Serenity Opus Home, Nushka,
Lamour Artisans,
Salina Maria Home, Ruffled Thread, Knob Thorn Home, Four Hands Home Beautiful, Penny Worrall, Blog Lovin,  Pinterest, Found Rentals