Abrams points out how chainmail has the ability to give a space more structure without dominating it because you can still see through it. “It can work as a room divider, a screen, a curtain, or a wall piece,” she explains. Dixon stresses that this material is “best in small moments,” noting how it has a strong presence and makes a statement (as seen inside Vin Ho’s fashionable bachelor pad designed by Darren Jett). “It’s porous, almost translucent, and transparent,” he says. “It doesn’t feel heavy or bulky, but at the same time has presence and structure… I think it can accomplish a lot in a room.”
Idenburg continues to be fascinated by the application of chainmail to furniture, citing the Paulistano armchair, designed in 1957 by Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Roch, as a prime example of its timeless essence. “What is available is very standard, and it is made for those markets, so you’re very quickly limited to this very fine grain,” he explains. “It’s not very common to find the material. You can’t buy it, you actually have to go and make it.” Somary also acknowledges that there is an “inaccessible accessibility” to the material, but thinks this is “a really exciting place to be where there’s not a ton of it and you are able to feel your way around a little bit.”
Similar to how Lil Baby never leaves his house without a chain dangling around his neck, chainmail is like a statement jewelry piece for a room. Within the context of a floor-to-ceiling curtain on a track system installed to break up the space, it evokes a feeling of elation and lightweightedness. Of course, there’s a fine line when playing with chains in our interiors—if you go too far your space could wind up looking like a dungeon (and not in the fun, sexy way that some people desire).
“People are sick of minimalism,” Abrams concludes. “They want maximalism, but they don’t want this brightly colored, hot pink maximalism. I think people are like, ‘How do we make something look really rich and layered, but not like you’re in some kind of fun zone? How do you make it sophisticated?’ Chainmail is such a good solution to that.”
