Songbird and Wool Check

Introducing Songbird and Wool Check, two upholstery textiles designed by Paul Smith in collaboration with Maharam. Alternating between classical motifs and large-scale geometry, both textiles demonstrate Paul Smith’s ability to modernize traditional references through imaginative applications of scale and color.

A spirited departure from Paul Smith’s signature stripe, Songbird depicts a highly animated assortment of perched and singing finches within an arrangement of lilies, peonies, and hibiscus. What began as a study of English botanical motifs from Smith’s personal collection was synthesized as a hand-drawn pattern by a senior member of the Maharam Design Studio. Specially woven to create the illusion of three dimensions, graphic lines of alternating matte and lustrous yarns lend movement to silhouetted fauna while unexpected tones of walnut, jade, bronze, and celery underscore Songbird’s modern invocation of traditional references.

A return to Paul Smith’s signature exploration of color, Wool Check takes a modern approach to traditional applications of plaid. Guided by intricate tonal gradation, an expansive repeat of large-scale color blocking emulates one of Smith’s designs for apparel while emphasizing painterly transitions between highly specialized tones such as rose, carob, petal, mulch and ginger within a single colorway. Woven by a specialized resource in the United Kingdom, Wool Check makes use of rich woolen spun yarns, resulting in a rustic, warmly textured cloth that reinforces the pattern’s tailored origins. Wool Check will also be available as a fringed throw in three colors.