Reinventing a classic – Mokum’s Vintage Deux

When the design studio recolour a Mokum ‘Classic’ they inevitably start with matching the previous best selling fabrics, which tend to include timeless neutrals, and enhance and improve some of the more classic existing colours.

Palettes need to be refreshed every three years or so, as our eyes become accustomed to shifting trends and colour themes in the wider design world. This process includes gap analysis, particularly with the neutral palette, reviewing not only sales data but also client feedback, which is critical.

Finally we add in more trend focused colours, reflecting on where we see colours heading in coming seasons. These more risk orientated ‘vibrant’ shades also help to create market cut-through, creating a more memorable and enticing palette and product.

In the case of our new and improved classic velvet Vintage, now re-released as Vintage Deux (French for ‘two’), the studio not only refreshed the palette but also took this opportunity to improve the construction, resulting in a softer handle and slightly more matte surface.

Vintage Deux is woven in Italy in the Prato region by a boutique velvet mill, and has a sublimely soft, viscose velvet pile, with a cotton and polyester back finished with a light acrylic backing to the underside/reverse. This additional backing, commonly referenced as a ‘light PC backing’ adds a touch of extra strength, helping to hold the pile more securely in place.

Vintage Deux is available in 27 custom colours. The Mokum design team love custom colouring velvet as it takes saturated colour so well - it enhances a shade, somehow making it richer. Once upholstered the light moves and reflects, shadows deepen across the shapes, lines and curves of the furniture piece, the pile shifting in tone and depth of shade – it’s such a stunning and dynamic textile to work with.

Therefore this comprehensive array of colours within Vintage Deux hints at Mokum’s future direction for the next 18-24 months, and new developments will coordinate back with this palette, ensuring the Mokum brand is holistic and responsive in its approach.

The neutrals within the palette are driven from a sense of nostalgia, with neutral colours warming up. For the past decade, monochromatic, cool grey based neutrals have saturated the market, which are still within Mokum’s offering, additionally there is a return to warmer hues as people are seeking comforting colours within their homes. Parchment, cream as well as a resurgence of caramel and chocolate, which have returned from banishment.

The palette focuses heavily on green, which is very much in line with in colour trend forecasting. Green vibrates a calming energy within interior spaces - creating a sense of bringing the outdoors in. Vintage Deux has a mix of emerald and yellow based green shades and more mineral tones, alongside teals, a fresh sky blue and classic deep Ink.

The studio has also indulged in some more vibrant ‘optimistic’ tones, linking back to the La Primavera collection from 2019, as palettes become more bravely saturated - particularly suited to velvet – bringing golden yellow, sun baked pinks, peach and terracotta pigmented hues, offering rich and warming effects.

Finally, there is a bold orange based red – Geisha Red - and an Ebony black, a nod to the Japanese influence from the forthcoming Ikigai collection which this classic velvet is being launched alongside.

Velvet is a classic, Vintage Deux the exemplification and celebration of this, with a revived palette and softness to warm and elevate a space. We are really excited to see the response and how people will use this stunning cloth.