The King of Decoupage is Now Doing Denim We Can Live With, Literally.

“I just think it’s going be incredible when it wears,” says John Derian as he removes the wrapping from a brand-new loveseat upholstered in indigo-dyed denim. “It’ll be so obvious, just like a pair of jeans, or like leather when it patinas.” The denim – made of 55% hemp and 45 % cotton – is one of five new fabrics that Derian is introducing into his furniture line, which is now housed in its own shop in between his decoupage-filled flagship and Dry Goods stores on East 2nd Street in New York City. Covering the loveseat, a formal two-seater with a back shaped like a top lip, the casual, blue jean fabric looks phenomenal. “It’s all washed,” Derian says taking a seat (fear not, his beautiful sofa won’t stain its sitters). “We can really do anything in the store in this fabric, but I think this piece is the most popular.”

Though part of the furniture collection, which Derian does in collaboration with Cisco Brothers, the loveseat is actually destined to be displayed next door on Dry Goods grounds, in the company of other gorgeous indigo things: sarongs and striped blankets from West Africa; one-of-a-kind pillows flip-sided with an exquisite floral fabric from Tissus Tartares; a pouf made of a vintage laundry sack. “It’s the thing that maybe goes with everything in your home,” says Derian of denim. “As a chair, as a sofa, it doesn’t ever look out of place. Mix it with anything from John Robshaw, and it looks great.” 

As for the jeans that Derian wears with anything – they’re RRL, raw and slim with a very straight leg and a high rise. Could his affinity for denim have anything to do with the fact that – as we learned – his favorite color is blue? “I guess, but I like pink, too.” 

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John Derian Decoupage and Imported Goods (6 East 2nd Street; 212-677-3917), Furniture (8 East 2nd Street; 212-677-8409), and Dry Goods (10 East 2nd Street; 212-677-8408), go to JohnDerian.com.