Velvet, Leather, Rattan, Travertine: What Each Material Does to a Room

A successful room is decided less by colour than by material: it is material that catches the light, carries time and makes you want to touch. The guiding principle fits in a single sentence — mix at least three materials per room, one of which ages well.

Velvet: depth

Velvet shifts colour with the angle and the stroke — it turns any shade into depth. Hard-wearing in its ribbed version, more delicate in short-pile, it likes generous shapes: see our selections of sofas and velvet armchairs.

Leather: patina

The only material that grows more beautiful as it wears. Insist on full-grain (bonded leather cracks within a few years); cognac ages better than black, which turns green. The vintage leather armchair is often the best deal on the market: the patina is already done, the price halved.

Rattan and cane: lightness

They bring air into dense rooms and something natural into graphic interiors. As an armchair, a pendant light or a headboard, a single woven piece is enough to loosen up a sitting room that takes itself too seriously. It dreads the dryness of central heating — a light mist now and then.

Wood: solid, veneer, and the rest

Solid wood can be sanded and passes down the generations — see the wooden dining tables. Veneer (a leaf of fine wood over a panel) can be superb: Danish teak sideboards are proof. What ages badly is faux-wood laminate. A simple rule: two wood species per room at most, one light, one dark.

Travertine and marble: minerality

Travertine — a Roman stone, matte, veined with hollows — has replaced polished marble in current taste: see the travertine coffee table. Porous, it stains (oil, wine): letting it patinate is part of the deal. White marble remains the ally of classic kitchens and Saarinen tabletops.

Brass, chrome, steel: the metals

Brass warms (lamps, handles, gilded mirrors), chrome cools and recalls the 1970s and 80s, black steel gives structure. Same rule as wood: two metals per room, not three.

Finding the material for real

Every Beyit selection pairs a piece of furniture with a material, from premium to affordable. And if a material intrigues you in a photo, scan it: Beyit identifies the piece and its alternatives.