TEXTILE COLUMN: FOR THE LOVE OF TOILE DU JOUY

Toile Du Jouy,

A Fabric Pattern Telling A Story

With A Single Glance

Bengale wallpaper by French maker Manual Canovas

 showcase of Toile, AD Home magazine

Marcel Fabric Print, a favorite Chinoiserie Toile by Brunschwig & Fils

The European History of Toile- The name Toile can be traced to a small town near Versailles called Jouy en Josas. Originally created on cotton and made with a copper plate process.  Toile was first created in the 1700s as a single-colored print fabric with a repeated pattern. The original Toile Du Jouy is known to be manufactured in France by Oberkampf in Jouy-en-Josas between the years of 1760-1840s. The qualities of the indiennes de Jouy were appreciated by the French court after Queen Marie-Antoinette visited the factory in 1781 and the factory was then named Manufacture Royale. It was a struggle as the factory then faced difficulties of getting white cotton from India, So, soon, Oberkampf opened his own weaving factory in 1804 and the popularity soared. Designed as a pattern to decorate in homes on textiles, it became even more popular in the 1800s throughout England and France.  I personally equate toile with the French countryside and love the many, pretty pastoral scenes depicting maidens milking cows in a repeat pattern or farm tools and farm scenes with animals, birds and florals adorning the fabric. Straight out of design school (in the 1990s), I loved to decorate with toile which transforms me to the lavender fields of the French countryside.  Often printed on cotton or linen, but for a more sophisticated appearance later on cotton chintz, The stories go back even further with many Chinoiserie patterns showing ancient Chinese home scenes.  Toile is a lovely way to tell a story about lifestyle- whether rural or urban daily life, and can show us history and culture with a single glance.

American Toile- As we often do here in the United States, we reach back to history with an appreciation and in awe of a design, then make it our own putting a unique, and modern spin.  American designers and textiles in the 19th century did just that. The roller printing procedures techniques replaced the original copper place technique and this made the pattern more readily available, and soon American textile and interior designers began creating their own versions of toile, at first depicting European lifestyles then later daily American farm and urban scenes.

Our visions of the classic French and English toile became an important and identifying anchor design in the Colonial home at a time the nation was building and establishing its identity and independence from England. These toiles from that era act as a text book tale of our American history. During the Colonial times these Toiles depicted household, garden and country scenes. Popularity soared again in 1930s, and yet again in the 1970s (especially during the Bicentennial), but the pattern became all the rage during the aesthetic indulgence of the 1980s on then a newly re-popularized Chintz fabric ground (that was an old technique made popular in the 80s)- Thank You Mario Buatta, the Prince of Chintz.  

Ralph Lauren Toile Mario Buatta utilizing Colefax & Fowler Toile

root cellar designs' Surfs Up Wallpaper

The Toile of the 1980s were an obsession and nostalgia with the past European lifestyles and design refinement. During the 1980s Buatta (a NYC-based interior designer) gleaned a lot of attention and press for his use of layered, detailed interior design often with layers of fabric and specifically toile and wallpaper including elaborately designed beds and drapery in a maximalist style design. This era led to the resurgence of a more edited “preppy” aesthetic using Toile soon seen in country and beach houses influenced by fashion designers Ralph Lauren and Laura Ashley. Toile came to a heightened popularity with an increased use of wallpaper in the home and offered to interior designers by French atelier Brunschwig & Fils and English fabric house, Colefax & Fowler and their surge in distribution to American interior designers. At the time it was popular to have the drapery, bedding and wallpaper all in the same pattern and colorways.

root cellar designs' Willow Toile

Garden Party by root cellar designs

in both wallpaper and fabric

Village Stroll Toile by root cellar designs

Today in 2025, Toile runs the gambit of modern and traditional design and I’ve created a few toiles myself in our root cellar designs’ line of fabric and wallpaper for the home.

Happy Nesting
XO Tamara