Italian textile company Rubelli has teamed up with modern Italian furniture company Moroso on the exhibition, “Lo Sguardo Laterale: Moroso, une recherche entre Arts décoratifs et Design”(translation: “A Sideways Glance—Moroso and Exploration in Decorative Arts and Design”), now open in Lyons.

A walk through the museum space reveals an unusual display of creations by great designers who have produced design pieces for Moroso. The seats are “dressed” in a brocade fabric by Rubelli that dates back to the final quarter of the 18th century and has, possibly as a tribute to the bucolic passion of Queen Marie Antoinette for the country, an elegant decorative motif with ears of corn, a pair of doves and a straw hat, with added prettiness coming from floaty ribbons and sprigs of blossom. The document is a reproduction of a pointed paper housed in the museum and attributed to Philippe de Lasalle, one of the greatest lead players in the silk industry in the 18th century.

The richness of the fabric is heightened by the quantity of colors in the wefts—11 in viscose and 1 in metallic yarn—and by the number of wefts per centimeter. While 50/60 wefts per centimeter are normally used for a rich fabric, as many as 180 were used for this precious brocade.

The 9,600 warp yarns in organic silk, the most precious on the market, go to increase the opulence of the fabric. A highly complex brocade, made in 3 horizontal repeats with staggered vertical repeat, requiring long production times—more than one hour for weaving just one meter.

The exhibition, curated by Patrizia Moroso and Marco Viola, is open through September 1 at the Musée des Tissus et des Arts décoratifs in Lyons, one of the world’s top textile museums.