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Putting a soft touch on interior design
Pillow fights: A stack of pillows with different colors makes a huge difference to a roomâs interior
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Pillow fights: A stack of pillows with different colors makes a huge difference to a room's interior . Courtesy of Rosewood Living
What differences can cushions, curtains, runners and other fabric-based materials make in interior designs? Plenty.
Most people think curtains or cushions are complementary elements in house decorations. Yet, for interior designers, these fabrics are more than just furniture covers. They believe that these materials can give soul to the design.
Thus, interior designers call such items 'soft furnishings'. Encyclopedia Britannica defines the term as fabrics used in the home, giving a list of examples from bath towels and shower curtains to bed sheets and cushions.
Yet these fabrics are more than just fabrics.
An Indonesian expert in soft furnishings, Melissa Gobel, highlights the importance of these materials in giving a particular theme to an interior decoration.
'Without soft furnishings, each piece of furniture seems to stand alone and cannot blend with others. By adding small details like runners or cushions, we are connecting the dots between all elements of interior design,' Melissa told The Jakarta Post recently.
Soft furnishings, she said, could give added value to interior designs by accenting decorations.
'The whole interior will look nicer if we add some soft and small details with certain colors that can become a thread that binds all the pieces of furniture into one theme,' she said.
Melissa added that Indonesia, a country rich with beautiful traditional cloths, has great potential for soft furnishings. 'We are known for beautiful traditional cloths, which are good assets in soft furnishings,' she says.
Together with Cita Tenun Indonesia, an organization preserving textile traditions, Melissa has worked on some designs using traditional woven cloths.
'Some of the products have been put on display in exhibitions in Japan,' Melissa said.
Yet, the irony is that soft furnishings are not really popular in Indonesia.
Melissa, who has been in the field for 16 years, explained that soft furnishings were only known by people from the upper middle class.
Purple rules: Use a similar color for pillowcases, blankets, rugs and the wall to create synergy. Courtesy of Rosewood Living
Melissa's list of clients says it all. Among them are Okke Hatta Rajasa, the wife of Indonesian politician Hatta Rajasa and pop diva Krisdayanti.
Given the huge potential of the industry in Indonesia, Melissa and her fellow designers are trying to inform the public that soft furnishings can also be affordable.
'It can be cheap if you know the tricks,' said interior designer Ary Juwono, who is Melissa's partner.
He shared one example in designing sofa cushions.
'Instead of using expensive fabrics to cover all sides, just use the expensive one to cover the front side and the cheap one to cover the back side,' he said.
For interior design, Melissa argued that soft furnishings could also be used to do a cheap house make over.
'Instead of changing all the furniture, just change the cushions or the curtains, it will be way cheaper,' she said.
In an attempt to promote soft furnishings to the wider public, Melissa has partnered with local furniture firm Rosewood Living to produce luxurious yet affordable designs for the market.
'We choose the materials that are both good quality and also affordable,' Rosewood Living creative director Fallon Ang said.
JP/Stevie Emilia 
Melissa, Ary and fashion designer Ivan Gunawan have been picked as Rosewood guest designers this year to promote its latest products that carry the theme 'affordable luxury'.
Apart from the cost, Ary said maintenance is an important factor that designers need to pay attention to in soft furnishings.
'I always consider whether the fabric can absorb dust or not,' he said.
Meanwhile, Melissa always ensures that her materials do not need to be washed frequently.
'The more you wash, the less shiny the fabric becomes,' she said.
Melissa believed that the current trend in soft furnishings followed the global trend for interior design: mix and match.
Such trends, according Melissa, strengthen the role of soft furnishings in interior designs
'If a design is a choir, then these soft elements from cushions, curtains to runners are used to create a synergy between different components in interior decorations.'
