Artist-led collections from The Rug Company, Reformation and Utopia debut | The Rug Report

Find out about the latest launches from The Rug Company, Reformation and Utopia, along with a student design competition from Safavieh in today’s Rug Report.

*************

The Rug Company has unveiled its first collaboration with New York fashion designer Christopher John Rogers, called The Studio.

Inspired by the creative process itself, the collection comprises six handmade styles across ten colorways. In his studio, Rogers works by instinct and a spirit of play. Ideas take shape in marker and brush, drawn and redrawn and are allowed to change as they go. Happy accidents are welcomed rather than erased. He embraces what conventional design would correct: a line that wavers, a pattern that doesn’t quite meet, the mark of where a hand has been. For Rogers, the joy is in the making itself, in daring to experiment and letting the unexpected lead.

“The Studio is really about unexpected moments that inject an object with its personality,” Rogers said. “I’ve always been interested in developing work that feels considered but not overly perfect, and in leaving evidence of the hand behind. Discovering how many hands actually touch a single rug at The Rug Company made that idea feel much more meaningful. Ultimately, I want these pieces to become tools for self-articulation—to live with people, be used, and help them build a world that feels distinctly their own.”

Rugs Paintstroke and Ribbon hold the loose, exuberant sweep of a loaded brush, Marker Test the spontaneous scribble of a first idea, and Chalk Line the crisscrossed borders of a tailor’s chalk markings. Lattoro is Rogers’ modern take on the checkerboard, holding structure and flow at once, while Offset sets color blocking and interlocking geometries in motion.

Uniting all six is Rogers’ own palette, which balances playful maximalism with considered elegance, where ripened, sun-softened color meets neutrals with a patina and personality all their own.

Every rug is made entirely by hand, from the preparation and dyeing of its fibers to the final finishing touches.

“Christopher has such a singular visual language, one that brings together color, gesture, art history and an extraordinary breadth of references,” said Will Cooper, The Rug Company’s creative director. “What interested us was how to translate that world into something tactile, while preserving the rawness and humanity of the original gesture.”

Cooper said it was important to preserve the continuity of the human hand throughout this process, so that the artistic DNA is carried from the studio, through the hands of the artisans at the mill, and ultimately into the home.

*************
Fashion clothing store Reformation (Ref) has introduced its first-ever rug collection in collaboration with French rugmaker Les Editions de Tapis, the people behind the rugs in Ref stores.

Since 2009, the company has been on a mission to bring sustainable fashion to everyone. Each Ref piece is made with premium lower-impact materials and extra attention to construction and fit.

Designed together by Ref Chief Creative Officer Lauren Caris Cohan and Les Editions de Tapis founder Thomas Coccimiglio, the collaboration features nine limited-edition, made-to-order designs inspired by Parisian luxury and LA nonchalance, ranging from $ 1,000 to $ 5,000 and available exclusively online.

Each rug is hand-drawn before being hand-knotted by artisans in India and Nepal using premium natural fibers like wool, linen, and silk. Each piece is made-to-order and made to last.

Cohan said she has worked with the brand for years to bring a little whimsy to Reformation’s retail experience, and that customers have spent almost as long asking where they can get the rugs themselves.

Collection details

Chintz Rug – Baby Blue, Grey & Pink

Grand Chintz Rug – Tan Pink, Dark Wine

Oiseau & Tree Rug – Tan Pink

Le Classique Rug – Ivory

Le Chat Rug – Soft Purple

Swans Fans Rug – French Blue

Swan Fan Circle Rug – Ivory

*************

New York-based rug and home goods brand NuStory has introduced Utopia, a new rug collection created in collaboration with designer, artist and shopkeeper Michele Varian.

As Varian’s first rug collection, Utopia draws from her surreal and fantastical paintings, translating their expressive color, imagined landscapes and otherworldly flora and fauna into a new medium.

“I designed the Utopia collection to fill a void for what I wanted to see in my own home,” said Varian. “Pieces that are distinctive, clearly hand-crafted, color-saturated, harmonious—but not safe or boring. Seeing the complete collection, executed with such skilled hand craftsmanship has been a thrill. The finished pieces are even better than I imagined.”

With Utopia, each rug is drawn from Varian’s original artwork, transforming the floor into another canvas and bringing the idyllic, surreal quality of her paintings into everyday spaces.

Varian’s background in fashion design and longstanding curiosity about materiality played an integral role in developing the collection. Working closely with NuStory, she explored different fibers, dyeing methods, pile heights, carving techniques, and weaving constructions to recreate the painterly qualities of her original works.

“Michele paints worlds that don’t exist yet, and our job was to make them something you can walk on,” said Patricia Carreras-Ben-Zvi, President of NuStory. “That meant going back to the loom again and again, testing fibers, pile heights and carving until the rugs carried the same movement and softness as her canvases. UTOPIA is what happens when an artist’s imagination meets centuries of weaving know-how.”

THE COLLECTION

Tattoo takes its cues from the visual language of traditional tattoos, with floating motifs including a heart pierced by a dagger and a snake alongside symbols that have appeared throughout Varian’s textile work, including a dove representing peace and a stylized “LOVE.” Designed for both indoor and outdoor use, Tattoo is made from NuStory’s PET fiber, created from recycled plastic bottles, which achieves a look and feel reminiscent of wool.

Talisman unfolds as a fantastical allegory of nature and the origins of life. An imagined beast, an amphora spilling water, stylized waves, and winding flora come together in a composition that suggests the longstanding coexistence between the natural and human-made worlds.

Heather, a flat-weave wool rug, captures the atmosphere of an undulating landscape through subtle shifts in color and texture. Metallic gold and silver yarns evoke the sparkle of morning mist, while a technique inspired by the staggered color breaks of ikat space-dyed fibers gives the surface a dreamlike quality. Tabs incorporated into the back also allow Heather to be displayed as a wall hanging, further blurring the distinction between rug and artwork.

*************

Students from the New York Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) Textile Surface Design program will be honored at a ceremony at Safavieh Chelsea next Tuesday, November 17, as winners of “Grounded in Design,” a rug design competition created exclusively for FIT by Safavieh, the fourth-generation home furnishing

s house founded in 1914.

Working from a brief provided by Safavieh, inspired by Art Deco and architectural ornament, the Arts and Crafts movement and antique Persian rugs, students created original designs that were reviewed by a panel of judges that included interior designer Thomas O’Brien, founder of Aero Studios and a longtime Safavieh collaborator; Ethan Lu, Chairperson of Interior Design at FIT; designer Patti Carpenter; and members of Safavieh’s design team. The top three students will receive prizes of $1,500, $1,000 and $500, and present their work at the ceremony.

“A rug is where a room begins, and these FIT students have shown real command of color, scale and storytelling,” said Arash Yaraghi, President of Safavieh. “Our family has worked with designers for more than a century. Giving the next generation a real stage for their work is one of the most meaningful things we can do.”

Known for its heritage and craftsmanship, Safavieh pairs centuries-old weaving traditions with a modern design point of view and has created exclusive collections with designers including Thomas O’Brien, Jamie Drake and Thom Filicia, along with brands such as Ralph Lauren and Martha Stewart.

“This exciting competition provides our students with valuable feedback from leaders in the field, and the unmatched experience of having their work judged by professionals in the home furnishings and interior design industry, a wonderful precursor to career possibilities,” said Deborah L. Hernandez, adjunct assistant professor of Textile Surface Design at FIT. “We’re grateful to Safavieh for their partnership and commitment to emerging FIT talent.”