Yosi Tal is the rug icon. For three decades his company has Designed Rugs for Qantas, Google, Microsoft, Lendlease, Westpac, Coca-Cola, Parliament House, the Australian embassies worldwide and teamed with award-winning designers like Hare + Klein, Greg Natale, and Catherine Martin to produce hand-knotted rug collections which are out of this world.
We’re visiting this month to discover the freshest, most fashionable hand-knotted carpets in town, and why they are so special. What a handknot is, why it can make a room and who’s buying. (Hint: we’re totally crushing on them).
The showroom is renowned for the largest, most complete collection of contemporary handknots in the country. There’s 12 designer collections plus hundreds of in-house, hand-knotted rugs offering every kind of rug imaginable. We’re talking good lustre, weighty pieces in neutral colours and textures, that have to be seen to be believed.
Yosi is quite convincing about hand-knots. “Hand-knots are labour; they are art. A good hand-knotted rug can make a room.”
But it’s the diversity of knotted designs on offer that is mind blowing. There are so many covetable designs – made using ancient techniques – with great, all-over, subtle patterns that suit today’s aesthetic. The look is clean, contemporary and organic yet great for adding instant warmth and character to any space.
“Hand knots are the crème de la crème of rugs,” says Yosi, that will instantly transform your room, unify your look, and increase your sense of space. Made using natural yarns of wool, silk, hemp and bamboo.
Such rugs are typically measured by knots per centimetre. A higher knot count means a higher quality rug, and also allows for more intricate design using finer yarns.”
“It’s the time taken to make each piece, and size of the knots, that is the cost,” says Yosi. “When you see a quality handknot, it should look like a photograph, you should see the design clearly. The more pixilated it looks; the less knots, the less quality and time it has taken to make. Each of our designs, takes six months to craft.”
We’re crushing on the modern palettes and designs in shades of blue, smoke, charcoal, gumnut brown, mossy greens; knotted designs in sapling, treacle, rust and coffee, using blends of wool, silk, hemp and bamboo in textured pile, which are a lot less expensive than they look, starting from $4000.
Hare + Klein’s debut designer range of abstract-inspired hand-knots has had extraordinary success, with 10 designs down, and a second collection full of covetable pieces. Seek out the season’s most-wanted pieces like Inlets in Tibetan wool and silk, 2.4m x 3m, $6408, Refraction, 2.4m x 3m, $7272, or Etched, 2.4m x 3m, $6950. Plus designer Catherine Martin and Greg Natale’s popular pieces which have graced some of the world’s best interiors.
Take a look, too, at the mouth-watering, in-house designs that will instantly update your interiors like Aegean Sky Blue, 2.4m x 3m, $5490, Aria Natural, or the Aceto wool and hemp rug, $5.875 that suit most styles and settings. We know you’ll also love pieces such as Bilby, $4,250, and Cayman, 2.4m x 3m, $5,490. There’s just so much, you will definitely find what you are looking for.
Go for quality rugs, amazing value, something unusual, (in stock, no waiting), with a profoundly beautiful mix of patterns, clean lines, and great aesthetics, that feel superb underfoot. The texture will add instant dimension, depth, and drama. These pieces are about softening rooms and creating a more layered, cultured, individual look in interiors.
‘Landscape’ in-house hand-knotted rug, 250cm diameter, $7906, www.designerrugs.com.au
Check our picks in the gallery that can dramatically alter a space, and make everything look relaxed and elegant. We can’t get enough of them!
OH and, find out which rugs have worked their way into our country pad, over on Instagram.
THE CHIC LIST: THE RUGS WE KNOW YOU’LL LOVE:
- GLORY DAYS GOLD, Bamboo Silk, 2.4m x 3m, $5690
- AEGEAN SKYE BLUE, Wool, bamboo, silk and linen, 2.4m x 3m, $5490
- LEXICON, Wool, art silk and linen, 2.4m x 3m, $5490
- NIMBUS, Bamboo silk 2.4m x 3m, $4990
- CAYMAN, Wool, bamboo silk and linen 2.4m x 3m, $5490
- RELIC SILVER, Wool and art silk, 2.4m x 3m, $4290
- MALLARD, Wool, art silk and cotton, 2.4m x 3m, $4990
- GENESIS, Bamboo silk 2.4m x 3m, $5690
- INLETS, FOR HARE + KLEIN, 2.4m X 3m, $6408
- REFRACTION Hare + Klein, 2.4m x 3m, $7272
- ETCHED Hare +Klein Rug, 2.4m x 3m, $6950
DESIGNER RUGS SHOWROOMS:
Sydney Showroom
509 Parramatta Road Leichhardt, NSW, 2040
Phone: +61 2 9550 9933, www.designerrugs.com.au
Melbourne Showroom
565 Church Street Richmond VIC, 3121
Phone: +61 3 9534 0660, www.designerrugs.com.au
Brisbane Showroom
628 Wickham Street Fortitude Valley QLD, 4006
Phone: +61 7 3852 6433, www.designerrugs.com.au
‘Aceto’ in-house, hand-knotted rug from Designer Rugs, 250cm diameter, $5875, www.designerrugs.com.au
