Printed velvet by Mariano Fortuny
Velvet printed with gold and silver in patterns from Renaissance Venice and the Orient.
Fortuny printed his fabrics in his studio in Venice and kept his methods secret. His fabrics were used for dresses, cloaks and wall hangings. The factory on the Giudecca still prints. Examples are in the Museo Fortuny in Venice.
Materials: Silk velvet, metallic pigments
Manufacture: Printed by his own secret methods in Palazzo Orfei in Venice: stencils, blocks and layers of pigment.
The metallic sheen lying in the velvet pile and changing with the light.
Patterns borrowed from Renaissance brocades and Persian and Coptic textiles.