Kanishka

The fabric

Kanishka is a typical crewel design featuring flowers, leaves and trailing branches. The design is heavily influenced by the Indian embroideries imported by the East India Company in the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries.

However, the colour scheme of the fabric is pure 21^st century. It moves away from the primary colour triumvirate of red, blue and green to a sumptuous palette. There is inky blue, rose pink, moss and sage green and garnet red on a tea-stained background of weighty cotton duck. These are the natural colours of our fields and gardens, hedges and arboretums. It is why they work so well in our homes.

The history

Kanishka is named for Kanishka the Great, an emperor of the Kushan dynasty in the second century.   His patronage of Buddhism played an important role in the development of the Silk Road and he ruled over a vast empire which included modern-day Kashmir, where our crewel is still embroidered by hand at the foot of the Himalayan mountains. There is a statue of Kanishka in the Mathura Museum in the state of Utter Pradesh in India which is inscribed in the Brahm script: “The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kanishka”.

Suitability

Kanishka has a number of uses, from the statement wing-backed chair in your sitting room to the tapestry wall-hanging in your hallway. It can be used for upholstery of occasional chairs and luxurious accent cushions to lift your scheme. It is most used for window dressings; the natural cotton falls in beautiful folds from pencil pleats, pinch pleats, cottage headings and simple eyelets. For blinds, it makes up well into Roman blinds, London blinds, Austrian blinds and Festoon blinds.

Of all our collection, Kanishka is the fabric which most closely resembles an antique. It has the ability to lend an aged appearance to a brand new scheme. It immediately brings comfort and homeliness to the places we spend our family time.

Paint matches for Kanishka can be found in leading paint ranges like Edward Bulmer Natural Paint, Farrow and Ball, Little Green, Paint & Paper Library and Mylands of London. It coordinates well with both heritage and natural paint ranges.

Welland & Wye produces heirlooms of the future, and we believe that Kanishka is a classic design and colourway which will never go out of fashion. There is nothing more luxurious than a pair of lined and interlined curtains at the window, drawn against the winter night. Sitting in front of a crackling fireplace, with a deeply-piled rug under your feet and a glass of something cheering in your hand, surrounded by calming pattern and gentle colour – this is the ultimate goal of home design.