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Frette unveils ‘Disrupting Architecture’ in collaboration with Tara Bernerd
- Style Essentials Edit Team
- 60 minutes ago
- 5 min read
When two creative worlds meet with quiet confidence, something lasting takes shape. Frette’s new collaboration with interior designer Tara Bernerd, titled ‘Disrupting Architecture,’ brings together a century-old heritage of Italian craftsmanship with a distinctly modern architectural eye. The result is a collection of jacquard-woven throws and cushions that look and feel timeless, designed not just to decorate a home but to define the way it’s experienced.
Frette has spent over 160 years perfecting the art of luxurious linens. From royal households to the world’s most celebrated hotels, its textiles have long represented an understated luxury, one that values precision over pretension. Tara Bernerd, by contrast, is known for her contemporary interiors that play with contrast, depth, and tactility. Her design language is bold yet calm, structured yet warm. This collaboration was, in many ways, inevitable. It brings Frette’s legacy of fine materiality together with Bernerd’s sensitivity to architecture and texture.
The name ‘Disrupting Architecture’ captures the spirit of this union. It doesn’t imply chaos, but curiosity and willingness to look at proportion, structure, and pattern from a softer, more personal perspective. Each piece in the collection is a conversation between order and emotion, precision and comfort. The jacquard-woven textiles reinterpret classic architectural motifs—the clean geometry of modernism and the layered ornament of deco—in the language of fabric. The throws and cushions carry a tactile rhythm, their weaves revealing movement and depth as light shifts across them.
Filippo Arnaboldi, CEO of Frette, explains it succinctly: “At Frette, we have always believed that true luxury is born from a commitment to craftsmanship, heritage, and innovation. Tara Bernerd shares this philosophy, bringing an exceptional eye for detail and a deep understanding of materiality to every project she touches. This collaboration is a meeting of minds, united by a passion for timeless design and exquisite textiles.”
Bernerd’s own relationship with Frette predates this collaboration. She has used their linens for years across her projects, from boutique hotels to private residences. Her appreciation of Frette stems from what she calls “the authenticity of material and the quiet confidence of craftsmanship.” She often speaks about how design connects to emotion — how texture, light, and material can evoke a sense of belonging. In many ways, this collaboration is a natural extension of that philosophy.
The collection is divided into two expressions: Deco and Modernism. The Deco range celebrates symmetry and pattern, nodding to the grand gestures of the 1920s and 1930s. The Modernism range draws from the clarity and balance of mid-century architecture — reduced, pure, and quietly graphic. Both are woven in Italy from wool and cashmere blends, their patterns rendered in intricate jacquard textures that invite touch as much as they please the eye.
Colour is central to Bernerd’s storytelling. The palette moves between deep burgundy, ivory, tan, and peacock blue — shades that recall the refinement of Yves Saint Laurent’s early interiors. These tones are enriched with vivid notes of green and orange, a personal tribute to the late architect Richard Rogers, whom Bernerd considered a mentor and friend. The result is a visual language that feels cultured yet instinctive, where every hue carries a memory.
Each throw and cushion holds an exacting attention to proportion — the hallmark of both Frette and Bernerd’s design philosophies. The craftsmanship is unmistakable: edges are perfectly finished, textures are dense yet supple, and patterns align with architectural precision. They feel at once decorative and essential, equally at home in a modern penthouse or a classic villa. It’s a reminder that design, when handled with restraint, becomes timeless.
For Frette, ‘Disrupting Architecture’ reaffirms its place at the intersection of tradition and evolution. The brand has always evolved through quiet reinvention — from its origins in Monza in 1860 to furnishing some of the world’s most iconic interiors. Collaborations like this one allow Frette to continue its story with relevance and freshness while staying rooted in the integrity of its craft.
For Bernerd, it’s an opportunity to express architecture through texture. Known for translating the language of buildings into interior emotion, she views this collection as a kind of tactile architecture — where the weight, warmth, and geometry of each piece echo the balance of her built spaces. “Disrupting Architecture,” she says, “was about exploring how structure and softness can exist together — how something ordered can also feel deeply human.”
There’s an honesty in that approach that mirrors Frette’s own evolution. Both names share an understanding that luxury is not spectacle; it’s the pursuit of excellence without noise. Every weave, every stitch, carries intention. In an era that often prizes novelty over nuance, this collaboration feels refreshing precisely because it doesn’t try to impress — it simply endures.
With prices starting from £430, the collection is available at Frette’s flagship boutiques in London, Milan, and New York, at Harrods, and online at Frette.com. The website reveals the full collection — from bold graphic throws to soft tonal cushions — each piece photographed with the clarity and elegance that defines the brand’s visual identity.
There’s something about these objects that transcends trend. They feel like they could belong to any era, because their value isn’t in what they show, but what they represent — a dedication to craft, an understanding of proportion, and a respect for touch. That’s what makes ‘Disrupting Architecture.’ not just a collaboration, but a continuation of an idea both Frette and Bernerd have long shared: that good design is as emotional as it is intellectual.
And perhaps that’s the most interesting part — the way it reminds us that even in something as simple as a throw, design can express architecture, memory, and feeling all at once.
For those who follow the intersection of materiality and modern craft, this collaboration echoes the quiet artistry seen in other contemporary design movements — those that honour process, elevate texture, and bring the human hand back into focus. It’s not design to be looked at; it’s design meant to be lived with.
In a world of fast luxury, Frette and Tara Bernerd have chosen to slow things down — to create objects that feel meaningful, measured, and enduring. That choice alone makes ‘Disrupting Architecture.’ a work of relevance. It’s a collection built on the shared belief that the finest design, much like the finest architecture, is never loud — it simply stands the test of time.
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