How can anyone refuse the charming pastoral scenes of Toile de Jouy? During the 16th century, toile was the hottest textile around. After a 75 year ban on cotton (because of all of the importing of cotton from India and the far east, the silk and wool merchants demanded that no cotton products be sold) cotton reemerged in France as practically a new good. Toile de Jouy literally refers to “Jouy en Jonas” or cloth from the city of Jonas, where toile was originally manufactured in France.

I am sure all of you have seen toile, but in case this is your first encounter, toile is characterized by complex pastoral scenes being printed onto a white or off white fabric using one color for the print. The color range is fairly limited to blues, back, mauve, and sometimes red and green. The scenes often show landscape and usually contain people performing different activities like picnicking in the park, or guiding horses down a trail. The print design is definitely inspired by the chinoiserie textiles and good that were being imported by the East India Trading company. Many of the far east goods showed small scenes of Chinese houses and landscapes in the same fashion, and were recreated by the artists of Europe in the form of toile, among other goods.

Toile used to be used strictly on fabrics, but just like most things, toile has been reinvented in the current times to have many more functions. Not only can you find toile as a wall covering, but toile is even being brought into clothing and fashion, which is something you would have never seen in the 16th century. The monochromatic rule of toile has also been broken, and not only do the contemporary patterns feature many more colors, the scale and range of scenes being depicting has greatly expanded. Toile had a contemporary revival in about 2000, and I think it is here to stay. People cannot resist the nostalgic scenes and sense that toile brings to a space. Try thinking of unconventional ways to use toile in your home and it will always be a pleasant surprise.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites