Interior design and styling, homewares, furniture, home appliances and the personalities behind them
Online store Fossik have launched a new range of boucherouite rugs including the Curator’s Collection, which features unique textiles chosen specifically for their collectible value and aesthetic appeal as original artworks.
What do you think? Are these colourful creations your thing? Prices start at $600.
I shared a behind the scenes look at this collection with you last month and I have to admit, I wasn’t sure they were really my thing. I mean, I think fashion designer Camilla Franks’ famous kaftans are stunning, but I’d never wear one. A bit over the top for my tastes. But now I’ve seen these rugs in all their glory, I think they’re quite gorgeous.
As you all know, I’m a huge fan of Brit Abigail Ahern and her bold, unconventional interior style, which tends to break every rule in the book, with gusto! I’m delighted she’s written these tips for Interiors Addict and shared photos from her home, and her sister Gemma’s, with us. “Pattern and texture are the herbs and spices of the decorating world,” she says. “They add instant pizzazz to a room, turning if from drab to fab in a second, and I am the hugest fan. The trick is to ditch everything you’ve ever been taught about combining. You won’t need to bring anything to the table other than the ability to think a little differently.”
Abigail’s pattern and texture tips
1. You can never (repeat never) overdose on texture. The more you add the more intriguing a room becomes. The key is to create as much friction as you can (bad in relationships, fundamental in interiors)! Mix rough with smooth, slubby with polished; it will never feel too much.
Abigail’s own bedroom is a textural feast! I love it!
2. You can mix as many patterns as you want (forget all that mumbo jumbo about combining small scale motifs mixed with large scale patterns). The game changer is to reign in the colour palette. Do that and you can mix to your heart’s content.
The Designer Rugs’ up to 50% off Autumn sale is now on.
Discounted stock includes hand tufted and hand knotted rugs from the Bella Vista, Pavement, Textures and Antique Wash collections. Stock varies between the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane showrooms. [Read more...]
This Balmain terrace belongs to cushion designer Ellie Bradley, the woman behind Xavier&Me.
Ellie, her husband and young son Xavier (now you see where she got the business name!) moved into this newly renovated Victorian terrace in Sydney’s Balmain in October. They quickly added some colour to the blank canvas. As a huge cushion and rug addict I’m thinking it must be seriously useful to create these things for a living when it comes to furnishing your own home, and changing it whenever you get a bit fickle!
An expansive open plan lounge and dining area and a Caesarstone galley kitchen lead through 3.6 metre doors to a sunny garden. [Read more...]
I’m excited to share an exclusive first behind the scenes look at the photoshoot for kaftan queen Camilla Franks’ collection for Designer Rugs, not available until May.
Of course, being by Camilla, they’re full of colour and plenty of floral. The rugs are handmade and inspired by Camilla’s archive and current fashion collections.
The shoot for the new collection took place at a stunning private residence in Sydney’s Vaucluse yesterday. [Read more...]
I’m really excited about these new Boucherouite rugs from Morocco, available in Australia with free shipping from Fossik. It’s been a while since I’ve seen some really unique rugs at this price point.
Boucherouite, (pronounced boo-shay-reet), is a rug style specific to rural tribes of Morocco. Hand-loomed by Berber women from recycled remnants including cotton, synthetic fibres, Nylon, Lurex and occasionally wool and plastic, they’re colourful, one-of-a-kind creations.
Unlike most European techniques, the boucherouite, also known as the rag rug, is not based on a predetermined pattern or design. Rather, it is created at the whim of its weaver. It would be equally at home on a wall as it is underfoot.
Will 2013 bring terrible trends in décor, will it break new ground or will it just be more of the same? Here’s what Eco Chic founders Cris Bucknall and Paula Breckman are predicting will be big this year.
Manly swagger – we have seen a lot of fondant shades, delicate touches and feminine finishes over the last three years, so it’s not surprising the pendulum is swinging in favour of the men in our lives, who probably prefer leather to lace. Expect pinstripes on walls and on fabric, dark leather making a return, and a gentlemen’s club flavour emerging for lounge rooms and libraries. Check out our Darcy range of sofas and armchairs.
Golden sunshine – yellow and gold will be prominent tones, used especially for accents and accessories, sometimes even for large items such as sofas. Gilding on wallpaper and for details on pictures and mirrors will be especially popular. Eco Chic’s sunshine inspired outdoor rugs are the perfect accent homewares in golden shades.
Feathered friends – animals, birds and feathers will still feature prominently. It’s amazing how long this bird trend has lasted! This year it’s hello to gaudy parrots and peacocks and goodbye to owls and ostriches. Feather details are tipped for the top and elephants forecast to be big!
It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Dinosaur Designs’ resin homewares and jewellery (let’s not talk about my bangle problem) and I’m equally enamoured with their latest rug collection.
Glow by Dinosaur Designs for Designer Rugs
The Studio Collection comprises six designs which, although quintessentially Dinosaur Designs, offer a fresh take on the previous two collections. With bold and punchy colour-blocked designs, the collection plays with rhythms in line, shape, colour and tone.
Moon by Dinosaur Designs
“We wanted to play with big planes of colour with this series and work from a really warm palette to a very cool blue palette,” says Louise Olsen of Dinosaur Designs. [Read more...]
Known for its collaborations with high profile fashion designers like Akira Isogowa, interior designers like Greg Natale and brands like Dinosaur Designs, the grass roots creative force behind Designer Rugs is very much behind the scenes.
Lia (left) and Christine, senior designers at Designer Rugs
The company’s senior designers, Christine McDonald and Lia Pielli, have both been at Designer Rugs for more than a decade, give or take some short breaks to recharge their batteries, like all good artists. It is Christine and Lia who work with the often glamorous collaborators to bring their ideas to life and make sure, however beautiful they are, that they are actually likely to sell.
Around 80 percent of the company’s rugs are custom made and every design is available in different sizes and colour ways, meaning you really can create the perfect piece for your home or commercial space. “We have to feed off the industry,” says Lia. “We work with so many interior designers, we have a good nose for what’s coming up or what’s going to be popular.” Christine adds that people have really started to embrace colour again and she’s happy to see the back of a more safe pallete. “We’re always looking to fashion and overseas for inspiration too,” she adds.
One of Akira Isogowa’s designs
While interior trends don’t move as fast as fashion, the internet has certainly sped up the creative process.
One of the biggest challenges when collaborating, is persuading designers to design off the rugs, so that the pattern ‘falls off’ the edges so to speak. Many see the rug as a piece of paper or a canvas and try to create a pattern within it, which never works in the context of a rug.
Christine and Lia take it in turns working with the guest designers and the process can be very different, depending on their brand. “We generally let them come to us with what they want to do and then we translate it into a design that works for a rug and that we think will sell. We might change the scale or colour. Some designs translate really easily, others don’t,” says Christine. “And some designers want more input than others.” The whole process of bringing a new collection to market takes between a year and two years.
Christine’s New York design
The next collaboration is with fashion designer Camilla Franks and is due out early this year. The majority of the time, people approach Designer Rugs and ask to work with them, rather than the other way around. “For us the designs need to work as rugs. Some are beautiful but more appropriate for walls or fabric,” says Lia. [Read more...]
