Dressing a House: The History of Fabrics Inside the Home
Our ancestors used fabrics to adjust their living spaces to the ever changing seasons. Textiles protected them from the heat, were used to warm the interior, they also ensured privacy and protected them from all sorts of critters. Perhaps it’s worth returning to these methods?
The 2021 London Design Biennale was the place where participating countries exhibited shows that corresponded to the festival’s slogan, Resonance. The Polish exhibition reminds us how houses used to resonate with the seasons through the use of fabrics. Only a hundred years ago, it was linen, wool or jacquard that helped to cool down the house on hot days or to protect it from the winter’s cold. Interestingly enough, portieres (door curtains), wall backrests, room dividers, or runners had a place in palaces and manor houses, as well as in country cottages. Perhaps we should bring back these old ways of warming up or cooling down interiors with fabrics?
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A wall backrest in a dormitory in Kraków, 1960, photo: Zbigniew Zborowski / Forum
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A wall backrest is supposed to protect people from the coldness of a wall they’re leaning on when sitting on a bench or a bed. Not every piece of furniture had a backrest of its own and that was when fabrics came in handy. They were hung on a wall so that a person sitting down could lean on them instead of the cold wall. Their function was not only isolating but also a decorative one. Embroidered jacquards and tapestries ornate with imagery were used as backrests. In cottages, behind benches, beds and sofas there were wall backrests with animals or landscapes, in palaces they showed family crests.
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A room divider at the US Embassy, Raczyński Palace, 1938, photo: earchwarchiwach.gov.pl
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Talking about room dividers today, we think of them more in terms of decoration than functionality. Meanwhile, in the past, textiles spread on mobile constructions could give one some privacy (if the room was being shared) but also keep the space warm, since a certain type of room divider, when placed close to a fireplace or furnace, kept one warm by creating a bay where one could huddle on a colder day.
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Presidential Palace in Wisła, photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl
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You can still find these thick, heavy, usually dark curtains hung by the entrances of some public buildings or cafés. Portieres acted as additional protection from the cold; they shielded the room from the cold air coming in every time someone opened the door. They used to be very popular and present in ordinary houses, which literature confirms as this piece of interior design was described by Stefan Żeromski, Maria Dąbrowska and Eliza Orzeszkowa.
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The Zakopane Chamber in the Dłuski villa, 1923, photo: Library of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków
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Nowadays, a floor heating system is a popular convenience in hotels or private houses. All of us have experienced walking barefoot on a cold floor and when it’s warm – it’s an undeniably indulgent feeling. Before electric heaters were hidden under the parquet, runners were the utilised systems. These were made of woven cotton scraps, long rugs that were laid between important places in the house. In this way, they created the main ‘communication routes’, allowing people to move around the house without having to step on a cold floor.
Fabric suspended ceiling (Podsufitka)
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Palace in Zarzecze, photo: audiovis.nac.gov.pl
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Common knowledge is that in the second half of the 20th century, construction standards changed and ceilings were built lower. However, in tenement buildings, or even earlier in palaces and castles, ceilings were up to a couple metres high above people’s heads. Such spaces were very impressive, but hard to warm up (physics is against architecture on this one as warm air travels upwards). To keep the warmth closer to people, thick fabrics were suspended from the ceiling to create temporary lowered ceilings for the winter months. This method was used by Zofia Hansen, and you can still see a duvet hanging from the ceiling in Oskar and Zofia Hansens’ house in Szumin today.
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A boy in the countryside, a fly screen in the background, photo: Wojciech Pacewicz / PAP
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Although most interior fabric uses – in both magnate and peasant houses – became obsolete, fly screens are still in use. Is it possible that nobody came up with a better method to protect one’s home from unwanted insects? These loose linen or cotton fabrics, curtains or pieces of textile hung over the door are moved by the wind and thus repel flies, mosquitoes, wasps and any other bugs we’re avoiding during the summer. A piece of advice for fly screen users: their effectiveness is improved by their colour. Apparently, blue fly screens are especially effective as insects do not like this colour.
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Uphagen's House, now a branch of the Gdańsk Museum
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Everyone who was fascinated by the world of princesses and princes as a kid probably dreamt about a four-poster bed, since cartoon protagonists often used this type of furniture. But bed canopies proved useful also in real life. If these bed curtains were made out of a thick fabric, they were able to protect the sleeper from the cold in winter. In the summer, canopies made with tulle allowed one to sleep calmly, without the nuisance of flies or mosquitoes bothering us. The canopy provided privacy and silence, separating a person from their surroundings in the absence of a separate bedroom.
Café curtains (Zazdrostka)
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1990s, café curtains in the window, photo: Cezary Słomiński / PAP
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Fabric utilised in this manner can be still found today – in kitchens, dining rooms or bathrooms. This curtain or veil, which is stretched out from halfway up the window, allows privacy because it shields the interior from the view of passers-by, for example, but at the same time allows sunlight to enter.
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photo: Library of the Jagiellonian University
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Tapestries are large fabrics that imitate paintings and are hung on walls for at least two reasons. The first one is for decorative value: tapestries can present specific scenes or landscapes. They can be covered in graphics, colourful or subdued. One can easily match the type and pattern to the interiors of different styles and characters. An example are the precious, antique Jagiellonian tapestries; this method of decorating interiors was especially popular on the royal courts across Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many rulers decided to start tapestry manufactories on their courts. Not only do they adorn rooms, they were also used to warm up spaces. Tapestries covering large areas of walls prevents warmth from escaping.
Originally written in Polish, translated by KZ