Comfort zone: A bouclé and rattan chair, £695 (oliverbonas.com)
Fashion in clothing is one of the major influences for the way we decorate our homes.
The process is usually quick, with a trend making the transition to decor within a season, as happened this year with 1970s chic.
But bouclé – invented in the 19th century and popularized by Coco Chanel in the 1930s – is only now coming into the limelight.
This fabric’s name derives from the French boucle (curly) – and it’s racing up the decor style charts, thanks to a new appreciation for its qualities, primarily its teddy bear-like feel.
Bouclé is woven from yarn that consists of looped fibers of acrylic, cotton, linen, silk or wool. This gives it an uneven ‘nobby’ appearance, similar to tweed but much softer.
This texture is why Chanel chose bouclé for her iconic cardigan-style coat that was easy to wear, unlike the restrictive garments of the time.
The jacket remains in the collection today, even as big names in homeware introduce sofas and chairs with bouclé upholstery.
Now in the Heal’s store in London’s Tottenham Court Road, one of the first pieces you’ll see is the inviting Nuvola sofa covered in an off-white bouclé (heals.com).
All curves and no sharp edges, this sofa takes its name from nuvoloso, the Italian for cloudy, and it is the emergence of this style of comforting and sinking seats that spurs the rise of bouclé.
Its pleasantly reassuring quality led to the creation of the most celebrated bouclé piece of furniture: the Womb chair, created in 1948 by Eero Saarinen, the Finnish-American designer and architect Florence Knoll Bassett.
This bouclé upholstered bucket seat, which compares sitting to sinking yourself into ‘a basket of cushions’, is on sale today for around £1,500.
The ease that bouclé promises is so simple that it rivals the appeal of velvet, which until recently was the upholstery of choice.
Helena Davies, Head of Purchasing at Barker and Stonehouse, says: ‘We have seen a sharp increase in consumers looking for bouclé trim, with a 258 per cent increase year-to-date compared to other more classic options like velvet. ‘
Barker and Stonehouse’s bouclé sofas include the Lenor (£1,599) whose quilted design is influenced by stratocumulus clouds (barkerandstonehouse.co.uk).
The Lenor comes in ivory. While bouclé comes in many shades, creams and beiges are surprisingly popular as advances in textile technology have made these shades much more practical than before.
Nicky Line, chief product officer at Loaf bed and sofa group, says: ‘We are launching our Wobbly Cotton bouclé range in August – it will be a brilliant way for our customers to bring texture into their homes.
“We’ve made it ‘smart’ so it’s spill-proof and family-friendly as possible.” Line argues that bouclé’s blend of what she calls “texture, tactility, and touch” embodies the tactile qualities people now want.
A bouclé sofa is a significant investment in this trend, but the demand for the fabric is so high that home decor retailers offer a wide range of items in the fabric.
An accent chair adds a contemporary touch to a traditional country interior while softening industrial chic furnishings that can now seem a little too edgy.
Habitat has the £160 Cole chair (habitat.co.uk), while John Lewis offers the Anyday Dime Accent chair (£349) in light wood. This is inspired by Art Deco period seating, another key trend of 2023 (johnlewis.com).
If you suspect that even stain-resistant bouclé wouldn’t survive in your household, Dunelm’s Kit accent chair in dark gray bouclé has been reduced by 50 per cent to £99 (dunelm.com).
At Dusk, you’ll find bouclé cushion covers in black and off-white starting at £8 for the 30 x 50cm size (dusk.com). B&M has bouclé cushions for £12 for two (bmstores.co.uk). Swoon has the £239 Billie midcentury-style bouclé footstool (swoon.com).
The warm response to bouclé is seen as evidence of a desire for coziness, meaning more sheepskin pieces, real or fake, will appear in stores.
If a sheepskin throw gives a chair a more relaxed feel, what could be more relaxed than a sheepskin chair.
At the spring decor shows, one of the standout items was Eikund’s Fluffy armchair with angled wooden armrests and upholstered in shaggy black or white sheepskin.
Would such a chair look good next to a bouclé sofa? Yes, because this year your sitting room is an ultra-comfort zone first and foremost.