Malabar Fabrics: Ethically handmade fabrics.
For more than 30 years, they have been leaders in handlooms for the high-end decoration sector.
Malabar was founded in the UK by Peter Sterck in 1986. While running his successful furniture stores throughout London with his brother John, he discovered his passion for the fabrics they sold. At that time he struck up a friendship with an elderly fabric merchant who sold them a selection of 12 hand-woven cottons in vivid colors, of which Peter took a liking. He quickly expanded those 12 colors to 99 rich and varied shades just at a time when England was awash in dull grays and flat chintz in dusty colors, and designers were going crazy for them! And so a company and a reputation for color, quality and charm was born.
Today, Malabar is known worldwide for its beautiful collections of unique furnishing fabrics: handmade fabrics in vibrant colors and textures, embroideries, appliqués, sheers, silks, chenilles and velvets. For their collections they spend a lot of time thinking about tenacity, positivity and community.
About your colors.
VAT yarn dyeing is a process used to impart vibrant, colorfast shades to yarns made from cellulosic fibers such as cotton, viscose or linen. This method employs vat dyes, which are insoluble in water and require a reducing agent to solubilize and become dyeable.
The process begins with the preparation of a dye bath containing vat dye, alkali and a reducing agent. The yarn is immersed in the bath and carefully handled to ensure even penetration of the dye. Subsequently, the dyed yarn is exposed to air, where the oxidation process takes place. This transforms the dye from its soluble form to an insoluble state, which causes the color to bind to the yarn fibers.
VAT yarn dyeing offers numerous advantages, such as excellent color fastness, durability and resistance to fading or washing. It is particularly suitable for producing deep, intense shades and is commonly used in fabrics intended for applications requiring high color retention. With its ability to create rich, long-lasting colors, VAT yarn dyeing plays a crucial role in Malabar's portfolio, ensuring the production of high-quality yarns for a wide variety of applications.
KOLA
A stripe with timeless colors, a lovely weight for upholstery and does double duty as drapery, and is a perfect scale for a medium sized stripe. Such a familiar weaving technique in Malabar designs, but this design element turns this simple stripe into something interesting.
