The Stories Behind the Stitch: Stripes

The Stories Behind the Stitch: Stripes - Lines That Define Space

Few motifs in design are as deceptively simple yet as profoundly influential as the stripe. Through the repetition of line, interiors can be elongated, anchored, energised or calmed. Stripes impose rhythm, guide the eye and confer a sense of order, which is precisely why striped textiles remain foundational to interior design.

The History of Stripes in Interior Design

In medieval Europe, striped cloth often carried social ambiguity, associated with those on the margins. By the eighteenth century, the motif was thoroughly recontextualised: neoclassical interiors embraced stripes for their clarity and restraint… mattress ticking in blue and white bands, taut striped wallpapers, and tented ceilings that dramatised architecture.

The nineteenth century made stripes domestic staples, valued for utility and visual discipline. With Modernism, linear patterning aligned with a broader language of reduction and abstraction; later movements exploited scale and colour to transform stripes into graphic statements. Today, designers rely on striped upholstery fabrics and striped curtains to organise space, introduce movement, and create legible schemes.

Further reading in this series: Stories Behind the Stitch on Kilim, Sintra, and Houndstooth.

The Stripes of Alexander Maverick

Explore the full collection: Stripes by Alexander Maverick

Ticking

A study in discipline and restraint, Ticking draws on nineteenth-century mattress fabrics. It’s fine, evenly spaced bands establish calm continuity… a subtle striped fabric pattern that enriches upholstery and cushions without competing with form. Use where you want quiet order and a tailored finish.

Collen

Collen takes its cue from the geometric discipline of antique Welsh quilts, translating their characteristic order into a fabric of striking clarity. This is structure enlivened by nuance. A pattern that anchors a scheme with graphic definition and versatile application, bringing both character and coherence.

Aura

Aura varies weight and interval to create a stripe with perceptible motion. The irregular cadence activates surfaces, ideal for striped drapery and feature pieces where you want the textile to feel alive rather than static. Think soft architecture in cloth.

Chevron

The stripe reimagined as geometry. Chevron’s angled repeat recalls herringbone structures while nodding to bold twentieth-century graphics. Strongly directional, it introduces definition and drama without abandoning textile tradition. A confident anchor for contemporary schemes.

Why Stripes Still Work

• Structure: Stripes organise space, aligning elements and establishing rhythm. • Personality: From the restraint of ticking to the dynamism of chevron, character is built into the repeat. • Adaptability: Orientation, scale and colour allow stripes to deliver subtlety or statement with equal ease.

In monochrome, stripes ground a scheme with authority. In colour, they become deliberate, legible focal points.

Custom Colour with ColourMe

Each Alexander Maverick stripe can be precisely re-coloured through ColourMe, our custom palette tool, enabling heritage neutrals, sophisticated tonal plays, or bold contrasts with the same pattern logic.

Apply your project palette to Ticking, Collen, Aura or Chevron to create a stripe that is unmistakably yours.

Alexander Maverick’s View

We treat stripes as a language to be interpreted, not a formula to be repeated. The designs above demonstrate how striped textiles for interiors can articulate space with clarity, confidence and longevity, line by line.

Explore the collection: Stripes by Alexander Maverick