Velvet Above Ground And on Your Walls
The Wall Street Journal
By Emma Johnson
David and Dina Poch's Manhattan apartment is filled with midcentury modern pieces, but when they recently chose the wallpaper for a second bedroom, their inspiration was not so much Eames as late-era Elvis: They went with velvet.
Studying the sample, a turquoise Japanese floral, Dr. Poch had some doubts: "I was sitting there looking at it thinking, 'What am I doing?'" remembers the internist. But the couple soon made peace with their walls. "This apartment can be really severe, but this wallpaper seems playful," says Ms. Poch, a filmmaker.
Velvet wallpaper -- better known as flock -- has long been the hallmark of 1960s décor. But with new, vivid colors, slick foil backgrounds and geometric patterns, it's staging a comeback. Last fall, Cole & Son, a London traditional wallcovering company, brought out five new flocks in colors like black on hot pink. New York-based textile firm, F. Schumacher & Co., launched three flocks last year -- the company's first in 25 years. At Astek Wallcoverings in Van Nuys, Calif., flocked wallpaper now makes up 25% of the company's sales, up from 10% two years ago. In that time, the company has created more than 40 ready-made and 20 custom flocks. "I couldn't give it away 15 years ago. Now I can't print enough of it," says owner Aaron Kirsch.
The flock surge comes as the $650 million wallpaper industry looks for new ideas to spur sales that are about half what they were a decade ago, according to Carl Vizzi, owner of York Wallcoverings, a manufacturer in York, Pa. Makers say that the retro and quirkily formal look of the new models, which cost up to $200 a roll, especially appeal to homeowners tired of white-walled minimalism.
Flocked paper has had intermittent popularity over the years. The process of gluing textile fiber onto wallpaper was first introduced in Holland in the 1680s. Makers originally used wool or silk but now, flame-retardant viscose is standard. In the 1700s, flocks appeared in upper-class homes in England and colonial America, including at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. More recently, velvet came into vogue in the 1960s and 1970s, and on a smaller scale during the 1980s Victorian revival.
Karie Cole discovered some pitfalls when she added a floral red flock to her dining room. The installers charged 20% more than their regular price because of the extra work lining up patterns and keeping the fibers intact. With some of the fibers crushed at the seams, Ms. Cole had to fluff them back up with a putty scraper. Still, the paper has become the focal point of her contemporary-style house. "You wouldn't immediately think of it as modern," says the stay-at-home mom in Austin, Texas. "But it fits."
© Wall Street Journal/Emma Johnson