Amid the popularity of travel to the Orient in 19th century Europe, the emergent ‘leisure class’ first depicted in Baudelaire’s theories on class redefined cultural relations in the French capital of Paris. If his proposition reflected the growing and insatiable desire for exotic cultures and public display, it also spoke to consumers of a mass market of fine import products that would elaborate this new lifestyle choice.
Décor on the Orient Express
During this period, there was much room for creative talent. Consumers demanded fabrication of fashion oriented solutions in everything from domestic décor to luggage and ready-to-wear for forthcoming travels. Designer Louis Vuitton’s work was directly influenced by the requirements of voyaging clients, requesting luggage to port with them to distant locales. Traveling by ship or on the new Orient Express, leisure travelers took advantage of the exciting opportunities for exchange between Europe and the Far East. The interior décor of these new modes of travel offered inspiration, as voyagers sought to recreate these environments at home.
The transmission of cultural forms and stylistic interests soon exceeded those of the earlier era of mercantilist trade on the Silk Road. Commercialism was borne, and with it the advent of industrialization of the European market. Much revered resources like silk fabrics and the technological tools for manufacturing of textile products, was now readily available for consumption by the middle classes. As a result, manufactured goods designed for interior decoration were sold to a much broader society of consumers than ever before.
Commercial Design Today
In studies of the relationship between contemporary Asian consumerism and the European world of products, theorists look ostensibly to the incorporation and subsequent enculturation of Westerners, in the cultural currency of the Far Eastern marketplace. Create the conditions for exchange with premium commercial wallcoverings.
The influences of Impressionist thought had impacted in turn, as the use of light and coloration permeated manufacturing in the Asian textile industry as trade controlled the aesthetic attributes demanded of production. This mutual transmission of culture seen in the selection fabric dye used in commercial textile production illustrates the efficacy of the economic relationship established in international decorative arts industries during the period.
The history of commercial textiles including commercial wallcoverings set the pace for a modern history of soft goods production around the globe. Commercial interiors require special products. Continuity between the Asian and European textile import and export markets is the reason that interior design clients have so many choices in commercial wallcoverings.
Trade is a journey as much as it is a destination. Experience the mystic of the Orient Express once again with high quality, commercial wallcoverings. Put your business on the map for East-West trade.
