Not every Velvet is Velvet

Velvet has become almost ubiquitous. You can find it in furniture stores, fabric collections, and countless interior products. It has become such a familiar word that we rarely stop to ask what it actually means. Somewhere along the way, the distinction between exceptional velvet and everything else has quietly faded.

Most people never have a reason to question it. After all, if two fabrics are both called velvet, surely they are simply different colours or different prices. But once you begin working with textiles, you discover that the word velvet has become an umbrella term for materials that have very little in common.

That was one of the biggest surprises we encountered while developing our mirrors.

Finding the right fabric turned out to be far more difficult than we had expected. Nearly every supplier described their fabric as velvet. Yet behind that single word were polyester fabrics, velours, synthetic alternatives, and countless materials that only vaguely resembled true velvet.

It was then that we realised just how diluted the definition had become. True velvet is difficult to judge by appearance alone. You recognise it the moment you touch it. It invites your hand. You instinctively want to run your fingers across the pile, to feel its softness, to experience the richness of its surface. That emotional response became one of the most important criteria in our own selection process.

But touch is only part of the story. Light reveals the true character of velvet.

Cotton velvet absorbs light with remarkable subtlety, creating colours that feel quiet, deep, and almost architectural.

Silk velvet behaves very differently. As it catches the light, its surface comes alive, revealing gentle shifts in tone and that unmistakable, luxurious luminosity that has fascinated designers for centuries.

Many synthetic fabrics, on the other hand, produce a harsher, almost metallic sheen. The colour changes abruptly rather than gracefully, often giving the material a flatter and less refined appearance.

There are countless details that shape how velvet ultimately feels and performs: the density of the weave, the height of the pile, the direction of the fibres, the way the fabric wraps around curves, and how its colour evolves throughout the day as natural light changes.

We tested dozens of fabrics. Some looked perfectly acceptable on a sample swatch, yet the moment they were stretched around a mirror, something disappeared. The depth was gone. The surface felt lifeless. There was no sense of warmth, no richness, no irresistible desire to reach out and touch it.

That is why we never begin by choosing a colour.

We begin with the fabric itself.

We study how it responds to light. We look for depth rather than shine. We ask whether it invites touch. Whether the colour gains complexity as you move around it. Whether the material brings quiet richness to the object rather than simply covering it.

Only then do we choose the colour. This process takes time, and truly exceptional velvet is never inexpensive. It is rarely the obvious choice for mass production, which is precisely why so many manufacturers opt for more economical alternatives.

For us, however, the fabric is never an afterthought. It is one of the defining elements of every mirror we create. Every velvet in our collection has been selected by hand, tested in our workshop, and evaluated not only for its colour, but for its texture, depth, movement, and the emotion it evokes.

Because true velvet is about feeling it, not simply seeing it!