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Flooring
edited by Alexa Yablonski -- Interior Design, 7/1/2003 12:00:00 AM
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Fine lines An ultra-low profile gives high style to Crossley's Parallels. Successfully walking the line between hard surface and conventional carpet, this supremely sleek wire-woven flooring hybrid speaks to modern spaces. It's made of DuPont HRC nylon and available in six neutral colorways, completing a simply elegant look. crossley.ca.
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Merida Meridian
This company has established a reputation for natural fibers, especially in innovative paper weaves and streamlined sisals. But the Metropolitan collection turns up the comfort factor with rugs that beg for bare feet. Jersey Shore, a sumptuous beach-colored shag, combines wool, goat hair, and horsehair. For a chunkier profile, there's Central Park's supersize loops of felted wool. Delancey offers contrasting stripes. Harlem is the back-to-basics option, a deep-pile carpet in saturated Vegas red, Memphis blue, and Bittersweet (shown). Available as broadloom or area rugs, in standard and custom sizes. |
 
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Ponte Vecchio
Known for leather fashion accessories, this company has now introduced items for the home. More than 20 handsome patterns of water- and stain-resistant floor and wall tiles are made from vegetable-tanned leather in Florence, Italy. Styles include whipstitched, herringbone, and mosaic. For a gleaming accent, incorporate metal tiles. 2956 SW 34th Avenue, Ocala, FL 34474; 352-237-9810.
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Christopher Farr Besides designing remarkably elegant interiors for both institutional and private clients, French phenomenon Andrée Putman has placed her imprimatur on an array of products, from Baccarat crystal to Maharam fabric—even a signature scent. For her latest foray, Putman has designed five rugs for Christopher Farr, who adds Putman's name to an impressive list of recruits that already includes Allegra Hicks, Romeo Gigli, and Kate Blee. Putman's rugs feature a neutral ground enlivened by bright dots or stripes. In Putman's hands, though, the multicolored geometric play isn't an overpowering exercise in mod-ness. The designs are as refined as ever, just exhibiting a bit of punch. Velvet-gloved, of course. At Ralph Pucci International. |
  
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Floor Gres The Globe collection charts a new direction for this company, which has developed technology to channel the look of harmonic mineral surfaces for through-body porcelain tiles appropriate indoors or out. In development for several years, Globe's debut series, Stones 1, replicates pietra dorata, moka crema, cardoso, and other stratified stone. Available in five colors, four formats, and four finishes—not quite as many variations as Mother Nature offers, but it's a start. Buy at Stone Source, view line at floorgres.it. |
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Emma Gardner A two-year-old initiative of its eponymous founder and her husband, Patrick McDarrah, this company has hit its stride. An artist, illustrator, and onetime on-line editor, Gardner creates organically patterned and freshly colored rugs either hand-knotted in Tibet or hand-tufted in India. (As members of the Rugmark Foundation, she and McDarrah guarantee that none of their mills employ child labor.) Among the Tibetan-wool offerings, we most like Amoeba Squared, available in three colorations. emmagardnerdesign.com.
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F.J. Hakimian The New Naturals collection comprises rugs made by Iranian nomads who spin and weave sheep's wool by hand. Several of the rugs are double-faced—featuring a flat kilim weave on one side and a soumak weave, which appears almost knitted, on the reverse. In undyed wool, the palette ranges from oatmeal to nutmeg; dyed-wool yarns introduce color to patterned carpets, such as Fine Soumak 1. fjhakimian.com.
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Durkan Commercial The Sunset Boulevard collection, named for the iconic thoroughfare that wends its way west from Hollywood to Pacific Palisades, also embraces the aesthetic shift from Whisky a Go-Go to beach. Two color groups cover the distance. Hollywood, represented by the East Coast group (shown), owes its boldness and vitality to neon and nightlife; West Coast leans to naturals and neutrals. mohawkgroup.com.
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Ecosurfaces Playing hard doesn't have to be bruising. Ecoromp's four-part system ensures consistent floor cushioning for the indoor recreation areas often found in shopping malls and doctors' offices. Easy to clean, Ecoromp also emits low VOCs. ecosurfaces.com.
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Lees Carpets Looking for fresh perspective, this company called on students at North Carolina State University's College of Design. Together, the team developed Rbn (that's urban), a broadloom collection inspired by the kinetic energy of city life. This sleek flooring features a metallic ground and a lively multi-level loop texture. The designs seem to dissolve before your eyes, thanks to shadows produced by unlimited pile heights. leescarpets.com.
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Consentino Most often used for kitchen counters and bathroom sink vanities, Silestone works almost anywhere—including the floor. This quartz-based surfacing product is incredibly strong, stain-resistant, and easily maintained. Just out is the Cielo series of popular European pastels. silestoneusa.com. |
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PMB Designs
If shag isn't your bag, you might prefer the sublimely sleek profile of Patricia Baun's hand-painted canvas rugs. Besides boasting bold geometrics, the rugs are resistant to water, stains, and fading. They're hypoallergenic, too. 405-128 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Y 1K6, Canada; 604-879-7775.
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Loophouse Hudson features a meandering, riverlike pattern. Like other rugs in the Manhattan collection, the hand-tufted wool design is available in 36 colors and four standard sizes. Custom dimensions by special order. Through The Designtex Group.
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Premium Wood Flooring & Design This company specializes in rare wood and fine craftsmanship, offering ornate wood "rugs," intricate inlays, and magnificent medallions. An example of the latter is Palace, which combines classic and contemporary elements in wengé, maple, ash, bubinga, American walnut, purpleheart, and Bolivian rosewood. premiumfloors.com.
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Fort Street Studio Bamboo, based on the leaves of a particularly exotic species, features plum, lavender, and sage-green stripes that subtly bleed into one another like a watercolor. The wild-silk rug comes in different colorations as well as standard and custom sizes. fortstreetstudio.com. |
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Diago For a room with warmth, consider Boston glazed porcelain tile—it looks as luxurious as woven leather underfoot. The 13-inch squares are available in ivory, ocher, tobacco, and mocha. tilespain.com. |
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Bentley Prince Street The Chakra collection presents thoughtful broadloom carpet designed specifically for the health-care market. Colors are associated with the seven chakras: the body's energy centers, according to ancient Hindu belief. Many offerings are enhanced by gold yarns that mimic the play of sunlight, and tactile patterns add comfort. Spa displays a dense, close-cropped profile; Refuge is nubby to the touch. bentleyprincestreet.com |
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Blue Ridge Modular Blue Ridge Commercial Carpet's new division continues to expand. Now it's the Natural collection, which breaks totally new ground for this nylon-centric company. The 24-inch square modular tiles are made from all-natural undyed sheep's wool in a range of browns and grays. Choose from two styles: Cotswold, a solid, and the subtly patterned Trapunto. blueridgecarpet.com. |
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Endless Knot Rug Company Triangles, representing people gathered in meditation, sprinkle the surface of Attendants. New to Lori Weitzner's Myth and Magic collection, the rug is made of wool with shimmering silk accents. Available in Truffle (shown) and Noir. endlessknotrugs.com. |
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Linda Belden
A trip to a Zapotec Indian village in Oaxaca, Mexico, encouraged painter Linda Belden to give textile design a try. A year ago, she launched her first collection of rugs, which combined modern looks with Oaxaca's regional weaving techniques. Garcon, a recent introduction, features wool that's washed, carded, and dyed by hand. Bonus: The 3-by-5- or 4-by-6-foot rugs are machine-washable, in cold water and Woolite. 28 Bulkley Avenue, Sausalito, CA 94965; 415-332-5160. |
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Masland Contract Metallic accents add excitement to the textural patterns in the Vibrants collection. The mix includes Wired, with stripes in cut and uncut pile. maslandcarpets.com. |
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Rex Ceramiche Artistiche The urban chic of concrete still finds devotees. For a twist, Concreate mixes concretelike large-format porcelain tiles with playful metal inserts and mottled, multicolored rectangular porcelain tiles that look almost oxidized. At the Italian Trade Commission. |
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Constantine Inspired by a shirt literally taken off the back of company founder Robert Weiner, the graphically circular Bob's Shirt belongs to Bob's Shirt & Patterns, a new collection of high-style cut-and-loop carpets. The line's unique texture results from a patented process that allows the ends of multiple yarns to slip through a single needle. Constantine-Carpet.com . |
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Tibetano Graduated colors and overlapping circles energize Ringlette, the latest addition to the Moon collection of handmade Tibetan wool rugs. 1 Grand Avenue, Englewood, NJ 07631; 800-995-5784. |
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Patterson, Flynn & Martin Concentric Box hypnotizes, with a square-within-a-square pattern in fashionable color combinations. Part of the Sea Cliff Stripe collection, the hand-knotted Tibetan-wool rug comes in custom sizes and colors. |
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Joan Weissman Ever experimental, Joan Weissman recently focused her attention on the loop. Her latest Tibetan-wool designs, such as Steps, toy with the texture of loop pile rather than relying on cut pile. 3710 Silver Avenue SE, Albuquerque, NM 87108; 505-265-0144. |
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Milliken Carpet Interviews with major A&D firms have revealed that designers seek carpets that look fresh now but don't become dated later. Hence the Simply line of 36-inch square modular carpet tiles. The loop-pile designs are crisp and uncomplicated; windowpane and checkerboard patterns and sisal textures are among the classics. millikencarpetsamplestudio.com. |
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