May 14 2012
As the world’s eyes turn to London and excitement builds for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, there has never been a better time to invest in British design.
Whether it’s Vivienne Westwood’s irreverant VW Flag or Lucinda Chambers’ romantic Jubilee design, be inspired by these timeless takes on the great British flag.
The Jubilee cushion (above) and wallhanging (below), designed by Lucinda Chambers.
The hand-woven wool aubusson VW Flag cushion (above) and rug (below), designed by Vivienne Westwood.
The hand-knotted Union rug.
Apr 26 2012
An ode to chic living, the FT How To Spend It magazine has published its biannual interiors special.
Fashion and interiors collide in a suptuous shoot celebrating an enduring love affair with lace.
On the front cover is the glamorous Bishop’s Cape Black rug designed by Diane Von Furstenberg.
The Faded Glory Pale rug by Paul Smith, a silvery silk damask pattern on a Tibetan wool background.
And the textural Samavar rug designed by Martyn Lawrence-Bullard below.
Photography and styling by Damien Foxe.
Feb 14 2012
Beautiful Turkish Ikat cushions have just arrived exclusively at our London shops.
The Ikat technique for making patterned cloth is one of the earliest known. As textiles rarely survive for more than a few hundred years it is difficult to be precise, but examples are known from pre-Columbian Latin America, and famous centres of Ikat production stretch from the Ottoman Empire through Central Asia to Indonesia.
Using a tie-dye method the threads are hand-dyed in stripes of colour. When these threads are woven into a fabric the stripes of colour form patterns with the distinctive blurred geometry that is synonymous with Ikat cloth.
Our Ikat cushions are made of silk that is produced in the traditional way, by hand-winding the cocoons of the silk moth and spinning the fibres into yarn. Each piece is individual and subtly different from the next, and we have a wide range of patterns and colours.
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Feb 8 2012
Six years in the making, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened in November in last year. Founded by Walmart heiress Alice Walton, the museum houses her impressive collection of American art, amongst which hangs a hand-woven tapestry designed by artist Kara Walker, which was commissioned by The Rug Company for the special Banners of Persuasion project.
A Warm Summer Evening in 1863 by Kara Walker
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Feb 6 2012
Here is a sneak preview of some beautiful pieces of Berber tribal rugs, which have just arrived all the way from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.
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Feb 3 2012
For our Maltese showroom, we have created a bespoke hand-knotted rug using the eight-pointed cross of the Knights of St John. It was in the mid 16th century, when the Knights were based in Malta, that the familiar design now known as the “Maltese Cross” became associated with the island.
The eight points are said to symbolize the eight lands of origin of the Knights: Provence, Auvergne, France, Aragon, Castile, Italy, England and Germany.
The pleasing symmetry of the cross makes it a striking decorative motif.
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Jan 13 2012
Jaime’s Hayon’s ‘Capitone’ has been pronounced Best Rug by Wallpaper* Magazine at this year’s Design Awards.
‘Capitone’ is a sumptuous, textural rug, whose diamond design is achieved by the topography of the wool pile. Using highly skilled weaving techniques, the pattern is carved by hand onto a plain hand-knotted rug, giving a plush 3-dimensional effect.
Hayon says of the design, “‘Capitone’ is an attempt to use a technique I love in furniture upholstery translated into a rug. It’s an unusual yet simple concept that brings to the eye feelings of warmth and comfort”.
Wallpaper* has published the winners in its February issue, which is dedicated to celebrating the best designs of the year.
Jan 6 2012
The ceramicist, industrial designer and Rug Company collaborator Eva Zeisel died last Friday, aged 105. Describing herself as a ‘maker of useful things’, Eva’s work spanned nine decades, several continents and comprises everything from furniture and ceramics to rugs and dinnerware. Her style could be described as an organic approach to modernism – functional but softer than the rigid Bauhaus aesthetics that were popular in her early career. Famously unconstrained by convention or trend, her innate strength and playful spirit brought a warmth and humanity to early twentieth-century minimalist design, which according to James Klein of Brooklyn-based ceramicists KleinReid, ‘is still totally in tune with the current mood.’
Eva’s life was as extraordinary as her work. Hungarian by birth, she trained as a painter but when pressured by her mother (a historian and staunch feminist) to learn a trade, quickly apprenticed herself to a local potter. Her fist major stylistic influence was modernist architecture and the villas of Le Corbusier and she recalls her ceramic inkwells ‘began to look like tiny modern villas’. She went on to work in ceramic factories in Germany and Russia, where she enjoyed the ornate designs of Russian imperial porcelain, later claiming that the ‘clean lines of modern design could be combined with classic shapes’. (More colourfully, she was also falsely accused and imprisoned for plotting against Stalin).
Eva Zeisel with her Dimpled Spindle rug. Portrait by Talisman Brolin.
In 1939, she moved to New York where she was invited to develop a course at The Pratt Institute to teach ceramics as industrial design, not as a handicraft as it was traditionally taught. She was the first designer in America to produce an all-white Modernist dinner service – an event celebrated by a solo exhibition at MOMA in 1946. This began the introduction of curvaceous forms into Eva’s work: inspired by the human body, Eva used abstractions of natural forms such as birds, breasts, baby’s bottoms and belly buttons to encapsulate her belief that ‘designs should communicate with one another and engage us through their friendly zoomorphic shapes’.
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Dec 23 2011
Nov 28 2011
Christopher and Suzanne Sharp recount their rug tale to Maltese lifestyle magazine Sunday Circle, revealing why they are going back to the island where it all began…
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