This past Spring I worked closely with Nicole of Bente Vintage Rugs to curate a beautiful collection of tribal antique rugs. We have sold the majority of the collection, but I did want to record that this wonderful thing happened and give you a little background on how it came to be.
I spend hours and hours sifting through pages and pages of vintage rugs on Etsy, eBay, and my trusted sources looking for the right size, colors, and patterns for a particular space. Sourcing vintage rugs is exhausting but along with tile choices, it feels like something that defines my finished spaces and what I'm *known* for. Nicole is one of the vendors I use and when I saw that she did a collection with another designer I got curious and asked her what that would entail.
She jumped right in. First she studied the rugs I gravitate towards in my projects and started assembling a long list of candidates. She would send me grainy photos of rugs in Turkey or Morocco that were potentials and I would YES/NO/MAYBE them with explanations of what I liked and what I rejected about each one until we whittled the pile down from hundreds to 30. It was hard to tell from the photos exactly what the rugs looked like. Once we committed, they were bought from the various international vendors and shipped to her in Chicago where she catalogued and photographed each rug. I picked about 10 that reflected the overall feel of the collection to be shipped to me in LA for styled in situ photography.
Using both my own home and a client's home to give end users an understanding of how the rugs could be used in different spaces and why they work.
We also did a small collection of pillows as part of the edit.
The main elements we wanted were for the collection to feel:
EXCLUSIVE: We spent months applying a rigorous set of criteria before honing in on these one-of-a-kind handmade vintage rugs. 30 rugs made it into the collection and we numbered them like the art they are.
NOMADIC: An edited collection of varied vintage styles from Turkey, Persia, and Morocco, each one is unique and reflects geometric and animal motifs that can stand alone or harmonize with one another for a collected look.
COMPELLING: Rich with history, the signs of wear tell a rug’s story. Hand-knotted 40-60 years ago from designs passed down from mother to daughter, many of these rugs were made for the family and sold when they became worn.
We chose Charlotte Lea to photograph the collection because we had both loved working with her on our own before and she has good experience with product shoots. I mean, come on, she is a PRO. Just look at these beauties.
There are still a few special beauties left in the collection for you to grab. It was a lovely distraction to get my creative juices flowing in a different way and a taste of retail without actually having to open a rug shop. Thanks for letting me along for the ride Nicole!