Photograph: Brunello Cucinelli
Throw, cashmere
Some objects improve a room simply by being in it, and this is one of them. The house lists it plainly as a cashmere throw, and describes it more fully as a cashmere travel throw with selvedge and fringe. The cloth is pure cashmere, soft and lightweight in the hand, and its square format gives it an easy, unstudied fall. Draped over the back of a reading chair, as the house itself shows it in light grey, it settles the corner it occupies: nothing is matched, nothing is arranged, and yet the chair looks finished, and more inviting for it.
The pleasure of the piece is in its restraint. There is no pattern to tire of and no ornament beyond the making itself. Fringes finish the short sides, and a contrast colour edge runs along the long side, a quiet line of definition that rewards a second look rather than demanding a first one. At 140 centimetres by 140 centimetres it is generously sized for its purpose: ample over the knees with a book, ample across the shoulders on a cool evening, and neat rather than trailing when it is folded away. It is the kind of warmth a house reaches for daily, in every season. The light grey of the photograph is a case in point: a colour that sits happily beside dark wood and pale upholstery, that takes the light of a room gently, and that will go on agreeing with whatever is placed near it.
It also carries its place of making with it. The house states that its items are manufactured in the hamlet of Solomeo, in Italy, with respect for human beings and the dignity of labour, and in harmony with the land. Solomeo is where the company has its headquarters, in the Solomeo Industrial Park, and where its idea of the Beautiful Factory began: workplaces that are well cared for and filled with light, with large windows overlooking the surrounding landscape. A throw is a small thing, but it is made within that larger, considered way of working, and it shows in the calm of the finished piece. It is a generous way to make a household object, and the generosity is legible in the result, from the evenness of the cloth to the care taken at its edges.
| Name | Cashmere throw |
| Material | 100% cashmere |
| Form | Travel throw with selvedge and fringe |
| Dimensions | 140 cm long and 140 cm wide |
| Colour shown | Light grey |
| Made in | Solomeo, Italy |
| Care | Hand wash only; do not bleach; do not tumble dry; iron at low temperature |
Even the packaging is thought through with the same care. It is designed in Solomeo and made in Italy, produced with FSC certified resources, and the interior packaging is made to be stored and reused, flattening to a very small space when it is not needed. That thoughtfulness suits the throw itself. Kept over the reading chair, it asks for nothing and gives a room a great deal: softness, warmth and a sense that the evening can slow down. Few objects earn their place so quietly, or so completely. On a reading chair in a quiet corner it is ready for the evening; folded at the foot of a bed, it is ready for a guest. Either way, it does its work without announcement.