There are so many creative solutions to keeping the ‘old’ and having a great look…if we let our imaginations fly – like they do in Barcelona.

This observation from HandEYE publication on rugs hits a sweet spot. Seriously, what more can we ask for?

Some contemporary takes on area rugs

Whether the carpet is a stylized wave pattern, or a pleasing motif with different pile heights in a subdued range of color, or a Joseph Albers look-alike, they all bring a mood that suits the rooms they’re in.

When I noticed this woven + felted rug in a friend’s apartment that was woven by her mother for her wedding, I commissioned one. The wool is from long haired sheep and is seasonally felted in a local river. 

Another way of adding texture is by superimposing a slightly raised pattern to the ground carpet. We took the ceiling repeat and reflected it back onto the floor.

I reinterpreted this pattern by breaking it up and playing with color as well as different yarn textures and pile height.

There are so many wonderful ways to add textural elements to a room. The carpet or area rug is one of those ways. We also make pillows from this felted woven. 

This section could not be complete without the inclusion of a few designs we’ve made into printed rugs. Printed rugs have a way of saying it all, including the texture, at a greatly reduced price.

On showing the design to a well know contemporary curator I was dating at the time, he mentioned Andy Warhol had produced a similar diagram - probably from the same ballroom dancing instruction book – with Warhol’s added instruction that these artworks could only to be shown on the floor. His floor painting is housed in Los Angeles County Museum of Art –LAMOCA…with his instructions to only display on the floor!

This curator said he favored my interpretation of these diagrams with the addition of a border for these2 area rugs – The Male Steps go forward and the Female - back. 

But it was Eileen Gray’s B+W ruler rug that was my inspiration to literally break any boundary.  I thought if she could design and produce a ruler rug in the 40’s, then I could make my ballroom dancing step in the 80’s.  

This once daring, avant-garde sensibility of borderless has now become commonplace - to the point that the scales are tipping back and traditional has made a comeback. But that’s for another post….

Immediately inspired by the samples I showed them, Tsao-McKown Architects commissioned Groundplans to make these Fiber Optic Lights for the Nailert Hotel Bar in Thailand, 2004

LET THE SKIES LIGHT UP UNDERFOOT – Fiber Optics, Celestial Nightcirca 2000

Lights on

Lights off

Swarovski featured my carpet embedded with their crystals - ICFF NY 2009. Unfortunately, the Lucite castors for the seating that was coming from Italy to lay on top of my carpet did not arrive in time. We made due.

Taking the same tufted pattern as the Crystal Cluster rug but without adding crystals, I carved and felted these rugs by hand.

Markings - Spa Rooms at the W Hotel Seoul, Korea.

Getting down and dirty – Making Markings happen.

From our haughty, narrow in scope, let’s export what we have without regard for “their” history to “We’ve come a long way, baby….”

Just yesterday, while dining out with an old Starwood pal, she mentioned there was a time about 12 years ago, where they wouldn’t build a hotel without integrating the topography of the area. Yes, ideas do fly….at high and low altitudes.

The World is Your Oyster

Like Flooring’s counterparts - Furniture, Walls, Lighting and Art – with their variety of Material, Color and Surface Textures – give us endless possibility and pleasure. 

What pearls lie hidden within your oyster?