Often glinting with gold and silver thread, these woven miracles could be hung as quickly as they could be dismantled - ready to be rolled-up, loaded onto wagons and rumbled off to the next stone-walled castle or panelled hall at a moment’s notice.
They were used to cover walls and tables, or were draped over thrones in draughty castles to create a canopy known as a baldachin. Indeed, from the 14th century on, no European aristocrat worth his position would have been without an array of rich tapestries which would have accompanied him on tours of his lands and estates. The aesthetic was one that would have been only too familiar to members of the nobility in centuries past. This could be described as nomadic decorating.
Pattern?! Chintzes?! Floral wallpapers?! Whatever next? I think it’s time to reconsider tapestries, both for their richness and for their versatility - as objects that can be hung on walls as an alternative to wallpaper, or to cover tables in the depths of winter. Today, the millennial predilection for the cool neutrality of modernism (and its step-child, minimalism) is fading, as the aesthetic gives way to contemporary interiors that are richer and warmer. Tapestries, explained the legendary architect and designer Le Corbusier, are ‘nomadic murals’ - a quality that has contributed to their enduring popularity since they first emerged in ancient Greece and Egypt.
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