Elva Fields Blog » interiors
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BH+WL No. 3
Our third offering in our By Hand + With Love series is a small curated collection of the most beautiful handwoven textiles from West Africa. I've been gathering these for a while (honestly, almost every time I've sourced glass beads over the last 20-plus years from my longtime friend and vendor of African designs who hails from West Africa himself, I added a textile or two to my own collection) and I'm thrilled to share a few with you here!
Most of this collection is vintage, though some are more contemporary examples of African fabric. Each is entirely spun, woven, or sewn by hand and dyed with organic materials, all in an ancient tradition by richly talented craftspeople, the result of which is honored and celebrated for its beauty, quality, usefulness, and meaning. Some of these cotton creations hail from Mali, others from the Ivory Coast, and still others from Burkina-Faso. The texture, colors, details, imperfections, and hand-crafted character of each textile tell a remarkable story and bring an authentic artistry to any setting.
A few ways I enjoy them:
They can also be turned into pillow covers (with the help of someone who sews!) or even used as upholstery fabric (I have big plans to cover my great-grandmother's sofa with a few of them soon...) hung as a tapestry, or stitched together for a bed coverlet. I'm hopeful you'll appreciate and adore them as I do, and I can't wait to see which ones catch your eye.
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An Artful Home
1. Collage - Elva Fields
2. Soap - Claus Porto
3. Sconce - Joss and Main
4. Mirror - Signature Hardware
5. Rug - nuLoom
6. Sink - EcoDesigner Concrete
7. Flowers - Johnny Seeds
8. Tile - Clé Tile
9. Wallpaper - Caitlin Wilson
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An Artful Home
1. bedroom - Studio McGee
2. fabric - Virginia Kraft
3. chairs - 1st Dibs
4. book - Taschen
5. collage - Elva Fields
6. rug - Wayfair
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Introducing...An Artful Home
After seeing a thoughtful customer's placement of one of my hand-painted and cut paper collages in her home, I realized how much fun it is to see how people incorporate art into a living space. It led me to do a little daydreaming, imagining spaces that might be a fun setting for my creations, and before long I'd dreamed up a few interiors with textiles, vintage elements, and even some furniture that might be a fit with my original art. I'm calling these gatherings of interior design goodness "An Artful Home" and hope to share them here on the blog every once in a while. Enjoy, friends!
1. bedroom - Sarah Sherman Samuel2. collage - Elva Fields3. fabric - Schumacher4. wallpaper - Molly Mahon / Schumacher5. fabric - Dorothy Shain6. plates - AERIN/Williams-Sonoma (similar)7. lamp - vintage Murano glass
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The Friday Five
Five things we've seen, heard, loved, stumbled upon, or been inspired and delighted by this week on Instagram:
1. mural / Who What Whit (Whitney Robinson)
2. print (fabric) / Christine Alcalay
3. salad / Bon Appétit
4. roses / Haskell Harris
5. yarn palette / Design*Sponge
[all images linked to the original Instagram post where I first saw them, credited in those posts by the account owner]
