How We Choose Fabrics, Finishes and Colours

Why good acoustic treatment has to work visually as well as acoustically.

Acoustic treatment has an obvious job to do: control reflections, improve clarity and help a room sound more balanced.

But once you start putting panels on walls, hanging clouds from ceilings and filling corners with bass traps, they also become a fairly significant part of how the room looks.

That means choosing materials for an acoustic panel is not simply a case of finding something that looks good. We are always trying to balance three things:

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It starts with acoustic transparency

The fabric covering an acoustic panel needs to allow sound to pass through it and reach the absorbing material behind.

A very dense or heavily coated fabric might look fantastic, but if it reflects too much sound before it reaches the absorber, it can work against what the panel is there to achieve.

That does not mean acoustic fabric needs to look technical or industrial.

One of the reasons we use our signature linen-weave fabrics is that they give the panels a softer, more furniture-like appearance while still being suitable for acoustic treatment.

It is a small detail, but an important one. The aim is for the panel to feel like part of the room rather than something that has been added purely out of necessity.

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Texture changes the character of a panel

Two panels can be identical internally and still look completely different depending on the fabric.

A smooth woven finish tends to feel clean and understated. A more textured material such as our Teddy Bouclé creates something softer and more tactile, which can work particularly well in living spaces, creative rooms and studios where you want the treatment to feel less clinical.

For projects that require something more specific, we can also work with fabrics such as Camira.

The important part is making sure the material still works practically as an acoustic covering. There are plenty of beautiful upholstery fabrics that simply are not particularly well suited to the job.

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Then there is the frame

The border around a panel can change its appearance just as much as the fabric itself.

A natural timber finish gives a warmer, lighter feel, while dark oak creates more contrast and can suit darker studio interiors particularly well. Cherry sits somewhere in between, adding warmth without dominating the panel.

We tend to think of the border and fabric together rather than as completely separate decisions.

A darker fabric with a dark frame can almost disappear into a room. A lighter fabric with natural timber can become more of a design feature.

Neither is necessarily better. It depends on the space.

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Colour is often about integration, not matching

One of the easiest mistakes to make when choosing acoustic treatment is assuming every panel needs to match the wall perfectly.

Sometimes that works. Sometimes a little contrast looks much better.

A neutral panel can tie several colours in a room together, while a darker panel can introduce some depth against a pale wall. In studios, panels can also be used to visually frame a listening position, desk or set of monitors.

We generally prefer colours that are easy to live with rather than overly trend-led finishes.

Acoustic treatment should hopefully stay in the room for a long time, so it makes sense for the finish to work even if the rest of the space changes around it.

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Durability matters too

Fabric gets handled during manufacturing, installation and sometimes whenever panels are moved around the room.

It therefore needs to do more than look good on day one.

We look for materials that wrap cleanly around a frame, hold their shape well and remain consistent across larger groups of panels. If six panels are going into the same room, they should look like they belong together.

That consistency is one of the less visible parts of making acoustic treatment, but it makes a considerable difference to the finished installation.

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Form and function

There is always going to be a technical side to acoustic treatment: absorption, thickness, placement, density and air gaps all matter.

But that does not mean the finished product needs to look purely technical.

For us, the best acoustic treatment sits somewhere between an acoustic product and a piece of furniture.

It should do its job properly, but it should also feel at home in the space around it.

That balance between sound, materials and design is a big part of what goes on behind the build.