26 January 2026 | Impact |
Sample books as an archive of changing design choices
Interior textile trends over time
I am a bookworm, even when books are made of fabric rather than words. Sample books, to be precise. Old and new, thin and heavy, originating from different periods of interior design.
Older sample books often contain thick cotton and wool textiles. Solid, nicely woven, sometimes with colour combinations that feel difficult to accept by today’s standards. Newer books, mostly based on polyester or blended fibres, show more variation in surface and finish. They appear sleek and controlled, yet often feel cooler and more distant to the touch.
That difference is not a matter of right or wrong. It reveals how interior textile trends develop and shift over time.
From production to experience
For a long time, interior textiles were mainly assessed on what was technically and economically feasible. Fabrics needed to be efficient to produce, predictable in use and easy to maintain. Given the technological limitations and industrial scaling of the time, that made sense.
Today, that framework is shifting. Interior textile trends are no longer shaped by production efficiency alone, but also by how materials feel, how they age and how they influence a space.
Textiles have therefore become more than a finishing layer. They affect how an interior is experienced and used. And precisely because technology has advanced, there is now greater freedom to make more considered material choices.
Historically, that freedom hardly existed. Natural fibres were once the default, not because they were inherently superior, but because alternatives were limited. Production was labour-intensive, variation was small and have new curtains or furniture came at a high cost. With industrialisation (and now synthetic materials) scale, consistency and ease of maintenance took priority. Sensory qualities and ageing behaviour were far more difficult to control at the time.
Moving beyond old versus new
The opposition between “old fabrics feel warm” and “new fabrics feel cold” is too simplistic. It fails to reflect the development of interior textile trends, which have always been shaped by technology, our use and overall context.
What becomes visible instead is a shift in design priorities. Technology is used less to enforce strict control and predictability, and more to enable nuance, texture, and material expression. Not because these qualities were unimportant in the past, but because they were harder to manage.
Today, qualities such as tactility, surface, and ageing can be considered more deliberately. As a result, attention moves from appearance to performance, and interior textile trends are read in a more substantive way.
Technology as a tool
The renewed interest in natural materials within interior textiles is not a rejection of technology. On the contrary, new techniques make it possible to work with both natural and synthetic fibres in a more precise, durable and consistent way.
Within a circular design practice, textiles are assessed not only for their composition, but also for their lifespan and potential for reuse. These considerations also shape how interior textile trends continue to evolve towards sustainability.
Sample books as an archive
Within my practice, I work with materials that already exist. I therefore see sample books not as trend catalogues, but as archives. They show how interior textiles respond to use, light, and time and which design choices are embedded in them.
In a context where interior textile trends change at an increasingly rapid pace, these books provide orientation. Not to follow trends, but to understand them and translate them into durable, tangible applications.
Looking, feeling, comparing. Not to move backwards, but to design forward with greater awareness.
