Traditionally Eric Valero, Nobilis’ main designer, presented us the new collection of the brand.

– Hello, Eric. Nice to see you again! It is our tradition to visit your show room every year.

– Yes, it’s been 3 years, third time now. Thank you!


– We like your collections very much and they are in high demand in Russian market. We will be happy to know more about your new collections, new colors, structures, textures.

– This year we have a very large program. But the most important is the luxury program. We decided to have something very elegant, natural. And we also wanted to include some hand-made fabrics of a very high level. Every year we try to be on the top, I think it’s very good for Nobilis.


– Is it the philosophy of Nobilis?

– Yes, it is our philosophy. Nobilis is one of the best producers of premium fabrics and every year we become more and more luxury. But along with luxury collection, we also have a small part with bright and fresh collection so we always try to satisfy customers in different markets.

– This year you have both elegant and bright designs?

– Yes, both. Because we work worldwide and everywhere people have different taste. For example, Russian people don’t like the same products as Californian people, as European people. That’s why we need to have products that fit perfectly for all markets.

– What is the name of this collection?

– The name of the collection is Kerylos. Kerylos is an antique villa on the South of France, inspired by Greek architechture. So, we started this idea of antique fabrics and after we adapt this idea into something modern, to 2018. For example, we used a lot of manual labor to achieve that effect.


– And geometric…

– Yes, geometric but with antique fabric on the background. It’s raw silk. The yarn is hand-made and it’s hand woven.

– It’s a masterpiece. I can’t even imagine the price!

– The price is OK. We printed some geometric patterns on the top with flat screen. I like the contrast of very antique fabrics with modern geometric patterns. We always try to find new ideas.


– Is it print?

– Yes, it is flat print. And for example here we embroidered on raw silk, more heavy.


– It is fantastically soft…

– Very soft! It looks like scarf. And we embroidered on the top with geometric patterns.


– I would like to have curtains like this!

– This fabric has a very fancy pattern, different stitching, also on a raw silk and embroidery.

– And this sample is just a simple embroidery but it is very elegant, very usable.

I always try to create usable fabrics. It’s very easy to create crazy designs but you can’t use it. I always try to create universal products that you can use for upholstery, curtains…


– So the fabrics should be calm and at the same time luxury.

– Exactly. My fabrics don’t exist with interior designers. I need people who can do a sofa, because my fabrics don’t exist if I don’t have a sofa. You have to stay in your niche because there are other professional people who will use our fabrics. That’s why we always create usable and universal fabrics.

And when I create fabrics with my assistant, I always remind to never forget how the fabric with look like when we cover a sofa or armchair with it.

And this sample is amazing. This yarn is called “raffia”, we have washed it many times.


– And the yarn becomes softer…

– Yes, exactly. It is softer and looks very antique, very raw, like hand-made. It has a very interesting texture.


– Do you propose to use this for upholstery?

– Yes, all small samples are for upholstery and big ones are curtain quality.

I want to show you another sample: it is a pure jacquard, and for antique effect we use boucle and irregular yarns. There we have woven denser yarns on the background in order to add some new color inside. It’s a very heavy quality but at the same time is very chic.

– The colors of this collection are very calm, very neutral, elegant.

– Yes, because I work for Louis Vuitton, CHANEL, Dior, and many other luxury brands come to our show room to buy fabrics. Louis Vuitton always has a very elegant style, they mix ivory with some gold, it’s a new international luxury style. Even when I make show room for Louis Vuitton, I do the same, or in Moscow, Milan, London or Dubai, - these colors and this spirit are definitely a new luxury style.
Behind me you can see some old gold mixed with very light gold. Texture is very important here. When the fabric is very soft, and there is no huge pattern, you need to add some fine details to make it look different. Some people prefer crazy patterns, but I prefer little details that make it special.

– Look at this pillow, it looks like a masterpiece. What is it?

– It is satin and cotton. I was inspired by moon, so it’s like a moon surface. I am always dreaming! We print a texture on satin, cotton and we embroider small dots with a lot of relief here. “A moon story”.

– And here is another fabric that I like a lot. I was inspired by Jackson Pollock, an American painter. It is the same design but we do it with embroidery using very light colors. I really like adding crazy details, creating something unusual.


– Here we have moon, here we have art, here we have antique villa, - everything is in one collection!

– I dream a lot!
We have a large program in beige.

– What do you think about yellow? Will it be actual again?

– Yellow with a little bit of green will come back. And here again we have raw silk plus embroidery on yellow.

The same design in blue mix with dark colors. Very dark colors came back. Everything is very ink: blue mixed with dark color, we sell it very well.

– I remember, the last year it was one of the most important colors for you.

– Yes, and we sell it very well. Well, sometimes we have very neutral, beige colors but here you can see the color of Nobilis. This is the red of Nobilis. That’s the spirit of the collection.

These are sheers of our collection, like antique sheers. We used linen yarns, it is raw linen, very soft and also here it has a bit of silk and very fine lurex yarn. I always make something very raw and something very rustic and fabrics look very antique. I like to mix a lot.


– And again it’s very soft…

– I like fabrics a lot so the most of all our fabrics have been washed before selling, so they are very soft.

– We already saw your luxury collection and now tell us about the fabrics that surround us now.

– As I already said, we work worldwide and there are so many people in sunny places who need more relaxed collections: more bright colors, linen base because linen is very fresh. It is very important for people who live in hot countries, for example, East Coast in the USA or Los Angeles.

Nobilis works with different clients. And we created this collection, it’s very bright, very fresh, with a lot of prints because it makes fabrics look very fresh. We use linen base and we print jungle with monkeys.

– Is it traditional screen printing? Not a digital printing?

– No, not digital, not in Nobilis. It is a very traditional pattern from 1950, I like that it looks vintage. We were inspired by West Capri: 1960, rock-n-roll, pop. So, we always have some ideas and then we try to create a collection.
And here we have a very strong pattern, you can see it on the curtain behind. It’s very fresh design. We call this flower Lunaria.


– No, we don’t know it.

– Maybe you don’t have it in Russia, it’s too cold for this flower.


– Maybe…

– It is a European flower. We print and embroider, so we use 2 machines for this quality. I use a lot of old documents, in my studio we create 60% of the collection and sometimes I buy very old documents like this print with jungle.

Another sample, it’s also embroidery. There are leaves, and it could be a little bit Japanese because it’s very simple.

– There is a lot of blue color in your collection.

– Yes, because blue is good for sunny places.
We have many upholstery qualities. This is a very pure cotton quality. And idea came from fabric shoes that people used to wear in South of France in 1960s. It’s a little bit revival inspiration.


– So, this collection is inspired by 60s?

– Yes, 1960s, sunny place, Capri.


– Happy collection. Monkeys?

– onkeys again. I like this design in blue.


– Indigo style.

– Yes, indigo color. Always perfect.

– What do you think, will it be one of the most popular colors this year?

– It depends… Yellow came back. I would say for Europe yellow came back.


– Yellow with a little bit green.

– Yes, yellow with a little bit green, not yellow-orange. Everybody loves this color. And dark blue color, - it’s always my best seller. You can’t even imagine how many kilometers of blue velvet I sold.
Another pattern, again Capri, 1960. It’s linen and it has been washed, it’s very soft.


– So soft.

– Yes, all my fabrics are very soft. Usually, when you buy fabrics, the first thing you do is touch.


– And if you don’t like, then don’t buy.

– All fabrics have to be soft.

Let’s talk about the yellow. We have a large program in yellow because we get so many requests for yellow mixed with black and red. It is a new colors association. It’s a heavy quality.


– Black and white.

– Always black and white. It’s always successful! You can sell black and white in every country. Young people in Russia love it. In the USA, in Sweden it’s the same, black and white is always modern.


– Universal.

– Yes, universal. Here are my monkeys in black and white.

– Again the flower we don’t know.

– Yes, the flower you don’t know in Russia. Here for photoshooting we mixed it with a very pale pink.


– Beautiful combination.

– Black and white plus this color look amazing. Usually all patterns look more modern in black and white. I like this association: its grey, black and a little bit of yellow. So, it’s very fresh, very bright and soft. We always have some beige because there are always people who are afraid of bright colors. So, we always develop designs in beige. So, that was a collection, very funny.


– Botanica.

– Yes, the name is Botanica. Because we used many flowers, leaves, different trees. I like drawing, creating new collections.
It’s funny for our company to create this collection along with a luxury one. I like to make very different collections.
And Nobilis works everywhere so we need to adopt for every market.

– Which collection will be better for Russian market?

– Difficult to say. Maybe, the luxury collection because “Botanica” is too fresh for Russia.


– Maybe its better for Spain or even Africa.

– Yes, Spain, Italy, Africa. Russian people love Nobilis, my sales are very good there. Thank you for that, we love you too!


– Because we like luxury and classic designs and we can find it in Nobilis.

– Yes, but I remember 10 years ago in Russia I was selling only classic patterns. And now everything is changing, also the new generation prefers more modern collections. For me Russia is the same as Dubai: Before I used to sell only classic patterns there, damask and now new generations prefer completely different style, and in Russia it’s the same. I think, it’s because everybody travels, now we can go everywhere but before all countries were different…


– Separated.

– Yes, no separation now. Everyone is traveling around the world. As a result, the new generation likes the same style, not exactly the same but you can notice similarities.


– But there are no more borders anymore…

– And it makes it easier for me to sell my collections because I can sell it everywhere. But I remember 30 years ago I was working separately only for Russia, only for Asian countries, for the USA, Sweden. I was always separating my collections and nowadays you can create one collection and sell it worldwide.
But I would say, it is only for the luxury collection. Wealthy people prefer the same style: something very luxury and modern, this is a new generation. I don’t know if it’s good or not, but it helps me in my work.

– What do you think about the new trends?

– I love it. I am a creative person and I always like everything new. It’s boring for me to see old things. When I am creating a new collection, I already don’t like the previous one because I only like the next collection. I am always interested in new styles, new ideas, new generation. And I respect creativity a lot.


– And what can you say about hand-made products? Is it the main trend of the year?

– Yes, and we try to use such products more and more in our collections. Because there are too many products in the market now, you need to be different. Nobilis has always been a luxury brand. Gold is not a real luxury, the real luxury is hand-made. The fabric is alive, it’s not something mechanical, industrial. I don’t know if my customers feel that, but when I imagine a person working on a handloom… I have a lot of respect for these people because it’s a very hard work.

– You should give soul to the fabric.

– Yes, and I like when its irregular, you feel the life in it. Sometimes fabric is so perfect, it’s even boring. I prefer to feel hand of a person who’ve done that. For example, we have a collection of a wall covering completely hand-made. It’s amazing, it’s a huge work! And if you have customers who understand the value and who are ready to pay for that, so for me this is a real luxury. Luxury is not gold.


– I completely agree with you.

– Thank you.


– And I think Russian people and Russian designers will love your collection and will use it in the most luxurious projects.

– Thank you, we hope so.

See you in Como! And maybe at Maison&Objet! Do you remember the last time… We met in the best place in the world.


– It’s a good tradition.

– It’s nice to meet you in different parts of the world. We are a small family. Thank you for that!


– We were very inspired here in Paris! These colors, trends, beautiful fabrics, - it’s very inspiring. We can tell our clients about it, they will appreciate it, spirit of the brand and, of course, they will be ready to pay.

– Right. We are here to make business. Thank you.


– And I think the crisis is over and business goes up now.

– Yes, it’s better now.


– Thank you very much!