The sophisticated color palette of platinum and oyster creates a soothing and neutral look of quiet luxury. Serene shades are mixed with shimmering and dimensional effects that add a refined elegance to both classic and modern interior spaces.

A luxurious Mediterranean paradise pampered with sultry breezes, azure waters, and glittering beaches sets the scene for Côte d’Azur, fabrics inspired by the splendor of the illustrious French Riviera. This collection of beautifully textured weaves, all suitable for indoor and outdoor use, provides style and sophistication without compromising performance.

The color palette is inspired by the sand and sea: chic neutral shades of driftwood, grey, and oyster layer with watery hues of turquoise, pool, and navy. A mix of bold and graphic patterns blend with velvet, chenille, and matelassé weaves, providing enduring luxury and drama for a wide range of environments.

Enter Your Design for a Chance to Win

Schumacher is inspired by creative uses of indoor/outdoor fabrics in a range of environments, from poolside cabanas to traditional dining rooms. We would love to see how our indoor/outdoor fabrics fit into your designs. Submit your favorite projects featuring our indoor/outdoor offerings for the chance to receive a $200 credit on your next order. The contest winner and three finalists will be featured on the Schumacher blog.

To enter, email whatsnew@fsco.com with images of your installation featuring Schumacher indoor/outdoor fabrics (no larger than 5MB total), a brief description of your project, your contact information, and a recent headshot. If you are submitting an interior space, please include why you selected indoor/outdoor fabric for this room. If you are submitting an outdoor environment, please specify why you chose this particular pattern or patterns.

Deadline: February 14, 2011

Contest will close on February 14, 2012 at 12:00pm ET. Winners will be announced the week of 2/20/12. Credit valid only on full price fabric, wallcovering, trimming, and furnishings. Offer does not apply to closeout or discounted Schumacher merchandise and excludes orders placed on Patterson, Flynn & Martin products. $200 credit valid through February 2013. Entrance only valid for designers holding active Schumacher trade accounts. Schumacher maintains the right to use images submitted on whatsnew.fschumacher.com.

Schumacher introduces two new ottomans that are versatile in shape and size—Tribeca Ottoman, with its square silhouette, and Chelsea Ottoman, with its cylindrical form. These exquisite pieces are available in either a plain or a mitered and button-tufted top. Clean and modern in appearance, their smaller eighteen-inch size makes them the perfect accessory, when used singly or in pairs to accent a variety of traditional and contemporary settings.

View Tribeca Ottoman and Chelsea Ottoman…

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Schumacher is partnering with acclaimed interior designer and star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorators Mary McDonald on a fabric collection. These new introductions will blend Mary McDonald’s signature design style, a combination of timeless elegance and modern sensibility, with Schumacher’s legacy of sophisticated and luxurious design.

Mary McDonald joins the exclusive short list of Schumacher’s collaborators, which includes interior designers Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Matthew Patrick Smyth, Celerie Kemble, and Jamie Drake, as well as fashion designer Trina Turk.

“We are thrilled to be working with an interior designer of Mary’s caliber. We believe this fabric collection will add an additional note of luxury to our existing offerings and continue to distinguish the Schumacher brand,” says Terri Eagle, President and CEO of F. Schumacher & Co.

According to Susan North, Senior Vice President Design/ Creative Director for Schumacher, “Developing the collection with Mary has been a creatively inspiring adventure. Mary’s dramatic and glamorous aesthetic will give a new, vibrant mix of unexpected color and pattern to Schumacher’s offerings.”

In the eighteenth century and very early nineteenth century, when most Europeans were using linen and wool dyed in earthy tones, vibrant fabric panels from India—palampores—emerged on the scene. In this pre-industrial era, Indian dyeing technology was unsurpassed, and the Coromandel Coast was renowned for hand-painting and indigo dyeing on fine cotton cloths.

A palampore is a type of hand-painted bed cover that was originally made in India. The word palampore is derived from an ancient Hindi word meaning bed hanging. These patterns were usually very complex and elaborate, depicting a wide variety of plants, flowers, and animals.

The intricate cloth was created using the kalamkari technique, in which an artist drew designs on cotton or linen fabric with a kalam pen containing mordant paint and then dipped the textile into dye. The dye adhered to the cloth only where the mordant had been applied. This lengthy process had to be repeated for each color in the design. Then, small details were painted by hand.

Palampores became very popular in Europe, where they were often used as bed covers, wall hangings, and draperies. Europeans loved the colorful floral designs and the light, easily washed cotton.

While the tree-of-life motif can be seen as having come from India, it is likely linked to the Dutch and German herbals that first reached India in the sixteenth century. Historians, at one point, proposed that the tree-of-life motif was inspired by a combination of Persian miniatures, English crewel embroideries and European chinoiserie patterns. The huge blossoming flowers that curve around tree limbs on these palampores suggest a European influence. Ultimately, the palampore has become an exquisite amalgamation between east and west.

This tradition has stood the test of time and has been an important part of decorative textiles for centuries. We invite you to visit how this tradition continues in the Schumacher Collection.

In Black & White (and a Bit in Between): Timeless Interiors, Dramatic Accents, and Stylish Collections, interior designer Celerie Kemble celebrates modern and classic black and white décor, highlighting inventive and sophisticated work from celebrated designers. Celerie’s witty observations, expert advice, and inspirational tips to create show stopping homes are infused throughout this exquisite book. Featuring more than 100 spaces and 350 gorgeous color photographs, this vivid celebration of black and white interiors is proof that a limited palette is anything but.

“Not long ago I noticed that with some clients, pairing down the color schemes produced dramatic results.” -Celerie Kemble

Upholstered Wall: Betwixt in Charcoal / Ecru, 62610.

“Use the same black and white fabric on your walls, curtains and upholstery.” -Celerie Kemble

Wallcovering: Birches in Black / White, 2707243.
Fabric: Birches in Black, 2644021.

“In a wallpaper by Schumacher, strands of birch silhouette wrap the walls. A coordinating fabric on the roman shade and upholstery envelop this media room in a branchy thicket.” -Celerie Kemble

Chenonceau in Charcoal, 5004123.

Click here to view Celerie Kemble’s fabric collection for Schumacher…

Images have been reprinted from Black and White (and a Bit in Between) by Celerie Kemble. Copyright (c) 2011. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc.

Schumacher introduces an essential digital resource for discerning interior design professionals and registered To The Trade users. Schumacher for iPhone allows customers and their clients to view the latest offerings; stay up-to-date on product information, stock and order status; place memo and product orders; search for nearby showrooms using GPS; view pinch and zoom high resolution photographs; review product details;  and learn about new trends, events, and offerings.

Learn more about the new Schumacher iPhone App…

The paisley pattern, characterized by an abstract tear-drop shape, can be traced back to ancient Babylon, where the design was used to represent the date palm. Patterned shawls with paisley motifs were originally woven in Kashmir, as early as the seventeenth century. The earliest designs were a single flowering plant brought to Europe during the mid-1700s. Since these luxurious shawls were hand woven, costly to produce, and extremely popular, they were often given as part of a dowry or used for ceremonial occasions.

After the Jacquard loom was invented in the early 1800s, Paisley, Scotland became the foremost producer of these shawls. As a result, the design became known as the paisley pattern, and gradually developed from an upright spray of flowers to a stylized cone-shaped motif.

Schumacher offers a wide range of paisley wallcoverings and fabrics, from grand scaled patterns in exotic colorations, delicately detailed designs adapted from antique shawls, and even graphic and modern interpretations of this timeless motif.

This season, runways in New York, Milan and Paris featured all things glistening and glowing in gold, copper, and bronze. Thakoon showed shiny stripes across brocade dresses, Burberry Prorsum included metallic jackets and trench coats, and Armani Prive highlighted liquid metal pieces in rich colors. Metallic accents are making an impact in interior design as well as in fashion, adding a timeless elegance and sophisticated style to the latest collections.

Schumacher offers a wide range of fresh metallic fabrics, wallcovering, and trimmings, from sheers that evoke the look of aged metals to subtle antique Gilt on craft paper.

Schumacher introduces the Chesterfield Sofa, which features exquisite details in a luxurious scale that speak to a modern and sophisticated sensibility. Adapted from nineteenth century English interpretations of this traditional upholstered furnishing, the Chesterfield Sofa includes lower proportions, a generous seat with button tufting, and deep waterfall pleating on the seat front and rolled arms. It is available in a variety of dimensions.

View the latest Schumacher Furnishing Introductions…

The art of the hand block is highly prized for its beautifully crafted appearance—subtle, softened and varied, each motif showing the hand and mark of its maker. Even the wood blocks used to create the designs are carved by hand, and much of the natural beauty lies in the intricately detailed forms and time-worn edges.

Beginning in the sixteenth century, the exuberant and exotic patterns of India, known in the Western world as indiennes and palampores, were imported to Europe and became very popular. As a result France and England developed their own block printing industries, and began to design block prints that took on a more European character, featuring abundant flowers, grand damasks and exotic patterns with botanical elements.

The patterns are carefully made by matching small pin marks at the block edges, which keep the pattern in registration. The block is pounded with a wooden mallet, called a maul, in an even pressure that requires an experienced and skilled hand. Printers then go back with dyes and brushes to hand paint. The result is one of a kind and artisanal—as each block impression is just slightly different than the next.

This season, Schumacher introduces Jaipur, an exquisite collection of entirely hand block printed wallcoverings that use traditional methods and classic patterns in new interpretations and colorations. The designs vary in scale, from small and delicate bhuti prints and decoratively detailed stripes, to bold damask motifs, Greek key patterns and multihued paisleys. The timeless quality of these prints is enhanced with durable surfaces and inks, creating versatile wallcoverings that are suitable for a variety of modern and traditional interiors.

Schumacher and Elle Decor celebrated the launch of Martyn Lawrence Bullard’s new fabric collection at The London in Los Angeles. The celebrity designer and star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorators was joined by members of the design community as well as celebrities eager to preview the collection of prints and wovens inspired by Martyn’s travels.

Everyone from GoDesignGo to Tobi Fairley to OnePerfectRoom is buzzing about Schumacher’s latest collaboration with celebrity interior designer and star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorator Martyn Lawrence Bullard.

Inspired by his passion for exotic travel, luxurious materials and unexpected color and scale, this new collection includes prints and wovens that have already become a favorite within the design community.

Click here to view Martyn Lawrence Bullard for Schumacher…

Schumacher’s Adras Ikat Print, from the Martyn Lawrence Bullard Collection, was awarded Best of the Best New Geometric Fabric by UK based lifestyle magazine Livingetc, at London’s Design Centre Chelsea Harbour.

Inspired by an antique warp printed silk textile discovered by Martyn during his travels, this fabric combines the brilliance of clear colorations with the boldness of a chevron pattern. Printed on a tightly woven cotton poplin ground suitable for upholstery and curtains, the smooth surface of the fabric and textured interpretation of the design echo the original silk ikat. The graphic look of Adras Ikat Print is perfect for adding an exotic note to a traditional room or a pop of saturated color in a modern interior.