Our homes are the spaces where we write the stories of our lives. And our homes tell stories, too. There’s a story in what we choose to put in them, from furniture to lighting, paint colors, decor, and more.
Some rooms whisper with tradition, artistry, and authenticity. There’s a sense of human touch in an often artificial world. It’s in the textures, colors, and patterns, like those so inherent in the world of ikat fabrics.
Ikat is as timeless as it is ancient. Weaving a path in homes around the world, in part, because of its sense of tradition and playful imperfection. What we love the most, though, is that it’s right at home in virtually any design style. Whether minimalist or maximalist, modern or classic, and design points in between, ikat can offer its magic in your personal style vibe.
Today, let’s take a quick stroll through what ikat fabric is and walk you through how ikat can find a home in your home.
The Artist’s Way: Ikat Fabric’s Long And Winding Road To Your Home
Patterns make their way into fabric in a variety of ways. The typical go-to has been weaving a fabric and then adding patterns to that woven fabric. Traditionally, the patterns may come from techniques like binding off or covering up parts of the woven fabric and then dying it in a process known as “resist” dying — think tie-dye or batiking. The results are crisp and largely predictable.
Dating back thousands of years to South America, Africa, the Middle East, and many parts of Asia, it’s hard to pin down the exact origins of ikat. But it’s generally agreed that ikat, as we know it, truly found its voice in Central Asia and India in particular. (If you’re curious, ikat comes from the Malay-Indonesian word, mengikat, “to tie or bind.”)
Ikat artisans seem to have looked at patterning approaches like tie-dying and batiking and decided that was for wimps. Rather than take a blank canvas after the canvas (or silk or linen or… you get the idea) has been made and simply add a pattern to it, ikat artisans resist-dye the yarn or threads themselves first and then weave the fabric from there.
It’s a bit like assembling a puzzle without the box. Thread by thread, weave by weave, artisans match up patterns within the yarn itself to create their vision. The result is completely unique pieces — literally one-of-a-kind works of art — and often a sumptuously imperfect blurred or feathered definition to the lines of the patterns themselves, all enhanced or restrained through bold or muted colors.
How Ikat Upholstery Fabric Works In Any Home Design Vibe — Like Yours
So ikat is ancient, original, and full of energy and soul. Also, expensive. After all traditional ikat is art. Happily, today’s upholstery makers create a similar artistic and perfectly imperfect feel using rollers, screens, digital printing, and more making today’s ikat fabrics an affordable style choice.
But how might you use ikat upholstery fabric in your home’s particular style? Let’s look at some ideas.
Modern Minimalism
Some look at modern, minimalist styles and see simply a pronounced lack of colors and furnishings. But we know better, don’t we? We know it’s about intentionality, curating a space that’s elevated and energetically liberating. That’s how you get to use ikat and adhere to modern minimalism, too. Be intentional.
Stick with colors that add a soft harmony to your existing palette through ikat’s intricacies. Depending on your colors, we’re talking about earthy browns, muted greys, and soft whites. Incorporate them through accents like throw pillows in oak brown jacquard ikat or curtains in sheer white ikat. Or a single sofa or pair of chairs as accent pieces adding an aesthetically interesting focal point in a midnight black and white ikat.
Bohemian Rhapsody
No, not the iconic earworm. The boho style that’s a carnival of colors, patterns, and textures. Obviously, incorporating the bold authenticity of ikat isn’t much of a stretch here. But what really makes ikat right at home in boho is its timelessness — it’s been around a while and it knows how to play well with others.
So mix ikat with other colors and patterns, even seemingly oppositional ones. Like a bedroom headboard in marshmallow white Crypton chenille and pillows in porcelain blue traditional ikat — or vice versa. Or an ottoman in a blue and white geometric pattern in a living room featuring mostly pieces in solids and florals. Ikat is ready-made for an eclectic, traveled, world-bazaar feel.
Trending Traditional
If your home leans more traditional, ikat knows how to mind its manners. Thanks to its artistic roots, ikat offers an elegant sophistication to any space. It’s in the richness of its colors, the ageless echoes of its patterns, and the contrast with your existing decor itself, a subtle or boldly elevated accent.
Ikat can be right at home in your dining room, upholstering chairs in claret red geometric pattern velvet. Or right at home as an entryway bench or a changing bench in your primary bedroom in an ornately patterned harvest gold ikat. And it can right be at home in drapes, like lush blue and beige kilims ikat patterns framing your view as the old and the new shake hands in your design style.
Contemporary casual
Now, a whole lot of us are out here in lived-in, lounged-in, and sometimes chaotic homes. Ikat is perfect for such spaces and it adds some design spice to the mix. It says, people actually live here, but they know how to rock a bit of style swagger, too.
Get there in little ways (really little) like table and mantle runners and napkins in fabrics like purple repeated-ikat pattern linen. Get there in medium commitment ways like poufs, flexibly serving as seating or footrests, and cool pops of colorful patterns like spicy blue and gold tribal ikat. Get there in BIG ways, like a chaise sectional in mossy green and gold jacquard. Or everyone’s favorite overstuffed armchair in blue ridge ikat pattern jacquard. Ikat’s vibe is something you can relax in and ready for the function-first feel of a casual contemporary home.
Timelessness Is Trending When You Bring Ikat Fabrics Into Your Home
Timeless and trending? Yes, actually. Ikat fabrics invite something timeless and soulful into your home. They reflect a rich tradition and artistry that people the world over have honored for centuries as meaningful and part of what elevates a space.
And trendy because it’s versatile enough to fit virtually any style so you can make it your own. Bring intentionality to the way you use it to add spice and deepen your design vibe. You’re the throughline — or perhaps thread-line — in the story your space is telling and ikat serves whatever role you give it.
Here at the largest online furniture upholstery fabric store, we have a wide selection of ikat fabrics, patterns, and colors (and more) to choose from. And we love helping you find the ikat that adds just the right amount of tradition and artistry to your home. Give us a call today.