One of our readers recently contacted The Design Tabloid to ask our resident Décor Diva some advice…
She asks:
“I have a dark brown suede L shape couch and want retro, bright scatter cushions but not sure where and how to get them…“
Décor Diva says:
This is actually a tricky question, without a particularly straight forward answer. The reason being that the term “retro style” could mean one thing to me and another to you, coming out of our individual perceptions of “retro”.
In décor & interior design “retro” basically speaks of a trend or style that is reminiscent of those styles of the 50’s and 60’s. However, the definition of “retro” is in actuality anything that is older than 20 years. To some retro means “vintage” or “mid-century modern” or the pop culture styles prominent in the 60’s and early 70’s. In recent times even those fashion and décor items and styles appropriated in the 80’s is gaining momentum.
This all then begs the question: what is your perception of retro patterns and styles?
But in an attempt to assist you with your scatter cushion décor dilemma, I think it best that I just simply point you in the direction of some of the local suppliers of fabrics & cushions that we would regard as retro – in a more universal sense. You take your pick from these and hopefully it will help you to move forward. If you struggle to find ready-made scatter cushions in the shops, there is a good few fabric houses that sell awesome retro-inspired fabrics that can be made into scatters. In the event that you are not needle and tread capable, approach a local curtain manufacturer to make up the scatter cushions for you.
Here is the suggested suppliers of retro patterned fabrics:
Unfortunately most fabric houses do not sell directly to the public BUT luckily if you see a fabric you like you can contact us and we will order it for you!
- Local Cape Town designer Skinny laMinx (not necessarily bright, but certainly retro)!
- Hertex has a handful of quirky fabrics with retro comic strip motifs on it.
- Then there is a fabulous range of fabrics and patterns to be found from Design Team, especially their Young at Heart and Baha ranges. Their website has a full and comprehensive range of fabrics to be viewed. If want you could spend some time looking through their range, you may strike it lucky.
Love, Rose x x x
{Below find some awesome local retro-inspired scatter cushions. Please click on images to enlarge}
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The Design Tabloid 
Amazing I love them all, I really want buy all these pillows for my new apartment..!!!
Hello James – I am sure that each and every one of these folk responsible for the design and manufacture of these cushions would be thrilled to have you fill your apartment with their product. I find the thought of having so many different scatters quite interesting – like get a fabulously big daybed and crowd a whole lot of these cushions onto it. That should make for an show-stopper feature in your apartment.