Art, it’s about time you walk all over it
By Never teh BrideGlinda brought a certain Jonathan Roubini to my attention in the not so distant past, via a link to an article in the LA Times. While I just can’t seem to wrangle a working perma-link that’ll lead you to the article, I can sum the whole thing up thusly: Awesome freakin’ rugs.
Pay attention where you’re stepping these day. A trend may be underfoot. A new category of high-end contemporary rugs is emerging: graphic illustrations of sex, drugs and other not-so-PG themes rendered by designers who look to the floor as an uncensored canvas.
Roubini’s The Kiss is hand knotted using wool and silk, and is available in standard and custom sizes…for a goodly price, of course.
Sex and drugs aside, I really do like the illustrative rugs I’m seeing more and more these days. My fondness for Oriental carpets cannot be trumped, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t mind laying down something artful and sumptuous on my bare wood floors. (Lest you think I’m being stingy, there are more pretty pics below the cut.)
What you see here is a piece of Emisfero Occidentale in blue, a circular rug that is overflowing with stunningly beautiful details.
Citta di Carte brings to mind illustrations from books of hours, one of the most common sorts of medieval illustrated manuscripts.
Here’s the one issue I have with these wonderful carpets: I’d be too afraid to walk on them! I’d have to hang them on my wall or put them in a room that is never used to keep them away from claw-curious kitties. My home would suddenly turn into a ’shoes off’ kind of abode, and I’d dust obsessively so I wouldn’t be in danger of over vacuuming! As fabulous as these are, I feel like I’d have to become obsessive compulsive to own one without fear.
I ask you, is luxury still luxury when it starts to own you?
February 15th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Listen: I grew up with a huge (18′ x 12′ foot) antique Persian carpet in the living room. I crawled on it when I was a baby, sat on it barefoot when I was a teenager, and had many, many dogs and cats all over the thing when I still lived with my parents.
Now I have a smaller, slightly newer Persian on my floor. The cat occasionally sharpens her claws on it and the dog naps on it. I vacuum shoe-dirt off of it once a week or so.
You can’t let these things own you. Part of the loveliness of old things is how they wear, how the edges of the rug stay nice while the middle part gets a little hinky.
If you love it, and you can drop the bucks on it, do so. You can stand in the middle of the damn thing barefoot and sigh with contentment. My folks’ Persian rug was the most valuable thing in the house when I was growing up (heck, it was worth more than the house, probably) and still is, in their new place–and most of that value comes from the memories attached to it.
February 16th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Amen and Jalapeno, Ms. Jo!!!! I have no idea on bucks because I never found a link to the prices, but I would love to have the lips rug, pair it with the broken heart bar stool and revel in my contemporary townhouse! If anyone wants to know what’s upcoming in home decor, look at clothing! The faces have been on european lagenlook for a couple of years. Progression of trends…1. Clothing 2. Home pillows, linens, drapes 3. Furnishings, carpets, sofa/chair 4. Automobiles… Rinse/repeat….
February 16th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Wow! I agree they’d be hard-to-care-for housewares, but in a museum, what beauty! The Occidentale feels like an illustration constellation map.
February 16th, 2008 at 7:06 am
I should never read this blog, because I want everything. Especially that last rug; just the thing to warm the wizened cockles of this old goth’s heart.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Guh! Want!
And Raincoaster, I may fight you for that last one. It’s glorious.