Luxurious textiles like crimson and brocade were once reserved for the wealthiest members of society. In the 18th century, skilled weavers spent hundreds of hours weaving a single, brightly colored fabric for royalty and the upper class.

But that all changed in 1804 when the “jacquard machine” was introduced and revolutionized the textile industry. As mentioned in this blog post, the resulting fabrics were incredibly durable and had intricate patterns. Importantly, jacquard fabrics could be mass-produced without the need for a lot of labor.

Here, we explore the development of this centuries-old weaving technique and how jacquard is used in homes, hotels and restaurants around the world today.

What is jacquard?

Jacquard textiles date back to the early 19th century and are the beginning of remarkable innovation in the textile industry. Before the invention of the “jacquard machine,” intricately woven fabrics like brocade and damask were handmade, expensive and available only to the wealthiest members of society.

So what is jacquard?

Jacquard is a textile that uses colors and patterns woven into the fabric, rather than adding dyes or printing techniques later.

The textile is named after the French weaver Joseph-Marie Jacquard, who invented the machine in 1804. It controlled the movement of the loom to weave different colored threads together.

Jacquard was inspired by the recently invented piano, which used a long roll of perforated paper, and used a similar technique to create punched cards and automate the movement of the loom. Each card inserted into a jacquard loom had several holes punched in it, corresponding to different weave patterns. This new device efficiently mechanized the weaving process, allowing for the creation of intricate patterns without much manual labor.