Timeless Tradition
Written By Robert Leleux
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At Lee Jofa, everything old is new again.
Lee Jofa is currently celebrating its bicentenary with a collection that both captures the spirit of its storied heritage and builds upon it. The “200 Collection” features more than one hundred items, including fabrics, wallcoverings, carpets, and furnishings, each of them a salute to Lee Jofa’s history, but with many surprises in store. For instance, sixteen of the company’s timeless textiles—“archival favorites” that represent different eras of the brand’s long history such as Floral Bouquet (frequently used by Mario Buatta) and Trentham Hall—have been reimagined in exciting new colorways. In many cases, softer palettes have been employed, incorporating fresh hues like lilac and apricot to create unexpected combinations. Some fabrics, such as the iconic Hollyhock (beloved by Bunny Williams) and Tree of Life, have been translated into wallcoverings for the first time, without sacrificing their hand-blocked quality. The line also includes sixty-nine hand-dyed carpets, and furniture ranging from Louis XVI-style slipper chairs to chaises to raffia-wrapped cocktail and side tables.
According to Sumitra Mattai, Lee Jofa’s VP of Design, the 200 Collection took more than eighteen months to develop, and the planning shows. The line—shown here to advantage in the Boston Athenaeum, a landmark building that beautifully complements Lee Jofa’s legacy status—manages to commemorate a classic American brand’s past, and kickstart its next two hundred years.
“Photographing among the Boston Athenaeum’s reading rooms and vintage card catalog told a visual story of the archival aspect of many of the collection’s patterns.”
A Few of our Favorites from The 200 Collection
Floral Bouquet is an adaptation of a mid-to-late 19th century English hand block print recovered from the archive of a French museum. Rescaled and reinterpreted for screen print in the 1960s, this well-known floral design was a favorite of famed interior designers, Sister Parish and Mario Buatta. In the latest introduction, Floral Bouquet is printed on a fine cotton cloth with a chintz finish, and recolored with a softer sensibility ideal for today’s homes. Overflowing with full blossoms, lush foliage and curving tendrils, the screen-print version captures the spirit of the original block print with nuanced character and subtle color overlays.
Based on an 18th century Indian palampore, Tree of Life is the crown jewel of Lee Jofa’s collection. The full-width design features a flourishing, fantastical tree blooming with stylized flowers, with exotic birds perched on curving branches. The pattern was created over two years in the 1920s by renowned English textile designer, Harry Wearne. The hand-block printed fabric continues to be produced in the same artisanal fashion as it has been for decades. The complex layout incorporates 267 hand-carved wooden blocks for each 100” vertical repeat, put together like a 3D jigsaw puzzle.
