Passementerie

Passementerie encompasses the elaborate world of decorative textile trimmings including braids, cords, gimps, rosettes, knots, tiebacks, and ornamental edgings. The art of passementerie reached its zenith in French court decoration during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, where these intricate trimmings were essential elements of luxury interior design, adorning everything from drapery and upholstery to bed hangings and wall coverings. In contemporary interior design, passementerie remains the hallmark of couture-level soft furnishing, adding the finishing details that distinguish custom work from ready-made. These trimmings provide visual punctuation, define edges, add color accents, and create a sense of layered craftsmanship that elevates even simple fabrics to a higher level of sophistication. While full-scale historical passementerie may be reserved for formal traditional interiors, modern interpretations in cleaner lines and contemporary colors extend the art to broader applications.