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Colors: Orange Color

When researching ‘The Rugs and Carpets of Fallingwater,’ for our Summer 2018 issue, it immediately became apparent that given the current popularity of Moroccan carpets, an article about mimicking the look of Fallingwater would have to be written. A survey of the pages of ‘Fallingwater’ by Lynda Waggoner reveals photographs of room after room of either white, fluffy, and inviting Beni Ourain rugs or more lively and red colored embroidered flatweaves; both of these readily available in today’s marketplace. But is it right, (or Wright) simply to duplicate the aesthetic?

When RUG INSIDER first started publication in 1996 the rug market was nearing the end run of a great class of traditionally styled rugs that replicated the look of those familiar Persian designs of Kashan, Isfahan, Kerman, and especially Tabriz to name but a few. Handmade in the Peoples Republic of China the so-called Sino-Persian rugs rose to prominence in the late 1980s as an alternative to their Persian cousins, which were banned by a United States embargo from 1987 to 2000. 

Though Alicia Keshishian comes from an Armenian rug family well steeped in the trade of quintessentially ‘oriental’ carpets, her aesthetic is decidedly modern. RUG INSIDER talks with the rug designer and color expert to gauge what defines—or often redefines—an aesthetic.

In recent issues of Rug Insider Magazine, we have focused on a number of antique Persian carpet styles, with most of those types of rugs emanating from Iran’s Northwest, such as Tabriz and Sultanabad rugs, from Iran’s central regions, such as Kashan rugs, and from Iran’s South, such as Kerman rugs. A significant style that we will be exploring here are from Iran’s Northeast, from the province of Khorason, and more specifically, from its capital city of Meshed.

The mere utterance of its name alone is enough to elicit controversy. On one hand there are those who love to hate upon it, on the other are those who embrace its use. Viscose, in its various forms, is increasingly used in rugs and carpets of multiple qualities. RUG INSIDER presents a daring look at both sides discussing its relative performance characteristics, situations unsuited for viscose, some key legal notes, and finally what makes a viscose carpet great. 

In past issues of Rug Insider Magazine, we have examined numerous antique rug styles, including Sarouk, Tabriz, Kerman, Kashan, Heriz, Bidjar, among others. One thing that all of these rug styles have had in common is that they are all pile rugs, with wool pile that sticks out above the foundational warp and weft of the carpet. In contrast, one of the most beloved traditional rug styles of the Middle East is the Kilim rug, a flat-woven rug style with no pile, but hand- made with the rich history of the various locations from which it emanates.

Designed by Garth Roberts, cc-tapis’ After Party carpet recently won a coveted German Design Award. The design— inspired in part by post fete confetti on the floor—reminds of the Memphis Design Movement of the 1980s, terrazzo flooring, vinyl composite tile (VCT), and one might argue, an updated and revisited Desert from Odegard Carpets.

Complementing RI’s spring trend focus on Wild & Wooly rugs, there are many variations of animal and nature themes to be found in antique Persian rugs and period European tapestries.

GARDENS, TREES & FLOWERS

In antique rugs, one of the main differences between rug categories is city rugs versus village rugs, with city rugs typically being more finely woven and having more complex curvilinear designs, and village rugs typically being more coarse in their weave, and having more rudimentary geometric designs.

Whether the designs are more curvilinear or more geometric, though, in the majority of rugs, the designs depict various types of trees or flowers, in some way, shape, or form.

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