Art Inspired Rugs
At first glance you might notice the echoes of classical artists in the designs of our contemporary rugs. In fact, classical and contemporary artists play an enormous role in the creative process behind our abstract rug designs. From standing on the shoulders of giants like Henri Matisse and Mark Rothko to pioneering young and unknown artists, we are immensely proud to be part of the London Art community and to be bringing Modern Art into Interior Design, with our Art Inspired Rugs.
Classical artists that inspired our contemporary rugs
The rug that launched our business in 2011 was our After Matisse rug, which was inspired by Henri Matisse’s paper cut outs. Matisse is one of the world’s most celebrated modern artists with the 2014 exhibition at the Tate being the most popular and memorable show in the museum’s history. It is little wonder, that our Matisse inspired rug is also our most popular.
We created the After Matisse rug from a collage of overlapping squares of colours. This technique has continued through our other designs and we will now sometimes use Perspex blocks of colour on a light box to enhance our vision for overlapping colours.
Josef Albers is another major influence in Sonya’s rug designs. Albers was a teacher and influencer on the subject of colour and colour theory. Our “After Albers” design, in Cornflower and Deep version, has been inspired by the interplay of shapes, shifting depth and changes in tone characterised by the geometric abstraction and colour studies of Albers.
Contemporary artist collaborations
Glass art has had a strong influence on our rug designs with our Echoes of Light rugs being the result of a collaboration between our studio and London based glass artist Tim Rawlinson. These artistic rugs explore colour transparency by layering colours and light, creating a truly unique piece of floor art. We display Tim’s works in our Hampstead Heath studio where you can see the comparisons up close and purchase his extraordinary work.
We also teamed up with New York graphic artist Jade Purple Brown in designing the Wave Rug. Together we wanted to create a piece of floor art that would bring a sense of excitement and joy through the radical use of colour and fluid curves inspired by the 1970s graphic style.
Supporting emerging artists
Our Hampstead Heath studio is also the perfect platform to display and launch exciting new artists in handmade jewelery and contemporary ceramics. We host a curated collection of niche objects that we discover in our travels or artistic explorations and which can usually be purchased in only a small selection of galleries around the world.
New Zealand artist Alice Rose’s mirage vases are part of our Studio collection. These extraordinary ceramic art pieces, hand made and hand painted, are created in her garden studio in Dunedin and play with optical illusions and the theory of perception. We are Alice’s only stockist outside New Zealand and her art has been inspiring us and transfixing our studio visitors for over a year now.
Artists are all influenced deeply by the art that inspired them to become artists. Whether subconsciously or consciously we channel those artists and in turn we may be channeled by those that love our work. In these uncertain times we are living in, there has never been a greater need to find inspiration and comfort from the colours and textures of Art and Art-inspired interiors. Our Art rugs offer an opportunity to bring Modern Art into your home and are guaranteed to inspire you every single day.