Wood, textiles, metals, potteries and all made objects have a quality known as texture which is fundamental in the idea of harmony between objects which are to be used together. It must not be understood that all things that are to be used together must have precisely the same texture feeling. If they did, the result would be a monotonous textile composition. Consistent variety, however, must obtain.

If, on the other hand, the wood in a room has the feeling of oak, the hangings the feeling of chiffon or charmeuse, the rug the texture of hemp or heavy wool, while the ornaments represent the texture of bisque or Sevres ware, there can be little hope of textural harmony in the composition. To be sure, putting these in the right colour may lessen the textural significance, since scaling them properly and pleasingly makes the textural difference less noticeable. To arrange them in perfect composition helps to make good effects out of bad ones. A complete criticism or analysis of a situation can never be made until the question of texture has been considered either intellectually or through the sense of feeling.

Some people, who are sensitive enough, know immediately when textures are too unrelated to be harmonious. More, however, are oblivious to this distinction and cannot remedy even the simplest inconsistency because they are unable to see what is wrong. There is, of course, a third class - those who never know anything is wrong, and this discussion may serve to awaken in such at least a spirit of investigation.

HALLWAY AND DINING-ROOM IN A SUBURBAN HOUSE; GOOD EXCEPT RUG (TOO STRONG AND AGGRESSIVE) AND THE DECADENT PLANT STAND AT THE LEFT, WHOLLY OUT OF HARMONY WITH ALL OTHER DETAILS IN THE ROOM.

To show how important the cultivation of this sensitiveness is, let me remind you that there are certain countries in which the development of the tactile sense is considered so important that special lessons are given in the following way: all children, until they reach the ages of twelve or fourteen years, are put in a class, blindfolded, and led to tables on which are placed, in mixed piles, pieces of straw braid varying in degrees of textile coarseness, undressed pieces of wood, different qualities of lace, silk and other textiles, feathers, soft and stiff, and materials of various kinds which one is likely to encounter in furnishing a house or clothing the body.

Children are asked to select a wood and a silk that feel right together, then to add to these something in metal or pottery, a piece of lace, a feather, a bit of straw, or other material, until they have found, by feeling, such things as they consider texturally harmonious. With the bandage removed, they then compare what they have chosen by feeling with what they would choose by sight, and are so led to sense relationships in these combinations. If this training is continued for some time, it is clear that the habit must be formed of recognizing relationships, as well as of investigating those relationships before accepting anything as good. After a time, of course, this becomes an unconscious process. No process of analysis should be a conscious one when it has reached the stage of development where it can be made a part of the unconscious or subconscious self. Only when these things are a part of the subconscious self are they really effective in developing the art idea.

Training the mind to sense one quality at a time, and that thoroughly, is a step in the development of the final idea. When, however, the perception of this quality has become a habit it is time to sense with like accuracy the next quality, then the next and the next, and so on, until one unconsciously feels a good and correct thing and, equally, is able to decide at once when a thing is not right or correct, or that this, that or the other quality is wrong in feeling. The value of this viewpoint to the interior decorator, or to the person who would appreciate art in any applied form, is absolutely immeasurable. Only the genius can appreciate, create and criticise in any field, but in any one may be developed to a considerable degree the ability to appreciate, to create and to criticise, if he accepts one thing at a time and trains himself to perceive correctly.

A right application of this textural sense will show that one cannot put olive wood and antique oak in the same unit without at least a considerable manipulation of space between them. Burlap and chiffon will not enter harmoniously into a texture scheme, even if they are both made of silk and have the same colour. It will be much harder to harmonize them if one happens to be done in cheap cotton and the other in expensive silk while their colours differ. Pieces of ornament like bisque and wrought iron are by their textures somewhat inharmonious, but not more so than are other articles of furniture or upholstery which we daily attempt to put together.

This description of texture is not meant to be complete. It is intended simply to arouse in the mind of the reader a realization of the importance of recognizing this quality and its power in the artistic concept. It may also bring about a consciousness of harmony in texture or its lack.

Before leaving the general fundamentals of this subject for the historic and specific ones, it is essential to have a common perception of what is meant by motifs in decoration. It is sometimes easier to see the significance of this if one thinks first of the motif as it appears in musical composition. A short passage or two perhaps conveys, or is meant to, the fundamental theme or idea around which the composition is built. To the person who understands music this short passage is the key or cue and is the source of the enlargements, the broadenings, the accessories and the tracings of all that comes after it.