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-- Interior Design, 2/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

accessories • building materials • eco-friendly • fabric & wall covering • flooring •
furniture • kitchen & bath • lighting • outdoor furniture • seating

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Building blocks
Founded in 1889 in Kinna, Sweden, this rug manufacturer is still located on its original site, and company archives meticulously preserve sketches, correspondence, and tuft samples for every custom rug produced at the mill there. A visit to Kasthall isn't just a walk down memory lane, however. Collaborations—with such forward-looking designers as Thomas Eriksson and Tomas Sandell—have recently shaken up the status quo.

Multisquare, a new rug in the Fogg collection, may evoke the floppy shags of the swinging 1970's. (In fact, Kasthall claims to have introduced gun-tufting to Scandinavia three decades ago.) But Fogg designer Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg updated the look with color blocks and flax yarn. Fogg rugs are tufted to order in a choice of 12 colors, with custom sizes and shapes available. Anise, 20 Whitehill Drive, West Hartford, CT 06117; 860-233-8116; kasthall.se .

Loophouse
A wool carpet in Lorraine Statham's Manhattan collection borrows the name Yorkville from the New York neighborhood, but the splashy brushwork and cayenne background seem to owe more inspiration to Spanish Harlem. Custom sizes available. Designtex, 200 Varick Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10014; 800-221-1540; loophouse.com .

PMB Designs
Patricia M. Baum hand-paints her Custom Design 08 floorcloth with soft rectangles in olive and sage—or any custom color. Baum neatly hems her edges and seals with Varathane, applying nonskid backings upon request. 405-128 West Sixth Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Y 1K6, Canada; 604-879-7775; pmbdesigns.com .

Saicis
The soft corners of Italian cobblestones informed the design of Bigolo porcelain mosaic tiles, which come in eight shiny glazes such as ocher, carmine, orange, black, cobalt, lichen, and aquamarine. Compressed clay and high firing temperatures ensure durability. 11330 Pigeon Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H1G 5V7, Canada; 877-675-3772; saicis.it .

Bev Hisey
The oatmeal, chocolate-brown, and gray stripes of Curves comprise two laminated layers of a tightly woven wool-nylon blend. With a touch of stiffness, the rugs roll readily—or hang well on a wall for tapestry use. 96 Spadina Avenue, Suite 504, Toronto, Ontario M5V 2J6, Canada; 416-703-6635; bevhisey.com .

Vives Azulejos y Gres
Oversize, 16-inch-square Illiada glazed porcelain tiles feature lacy molded grooves that fill with grout to simulate traditional mosaic joints. A water jet cuts straight outside edges for precise installation. Tile of Spain, 2655 Le Jeune Road, Suite 1114, Coral Gables, FL 33134; 305-446-4387; spaintiles.info .

Turn of the century
When Nader Bolour, the new president and owner of Doris Leslie Blau's venerable rug business, traveled to France to inspect the contents of a faded château, he had his eye on some exquisite examples from the 18th and early 19th centuries. To acquire the rugs, however, he learned he'd also have to buy the château's collection of 38 decorative objects—from the 20th century.

The furniture would have proved a sensation at auction, but Bolour suspected he might do just as well himself. "We already knew those clients," he points out. So he shipped all the pieces back to New York and hired Richard Lee Interior Design to install the best ones in an 1,800-square-foot gallery. Doris Leslie Blau Decorative Arts was born.

Building on the haul from the château, Bolour has since assembled an inventory notable for its juxtapositions. Karabaghs from Russia and unusual Indian Agras accompany a Guglielmo Ulrich console with futurist details, a quirky Line Vautrin mirror ringed by a halo of plastic satellites, and—crowning the installation—a French 1920's iron chandelier measuring a stupendous 6 feet across. Plus, Bolour plans to add sober Czech and Hungarian pieces to the counterintuitive combination. "The best of everything," he says, "always works together." 41 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022; 212-752-7623.

Interface Flor
With a high-and-low strié weave, the Flor line's Home Movies modular carpet tiles lend themselves to checkerboard installations, evoking parquetry. Peel-and-stick adhesive dots come up easily if you decide to change your stripes. 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 10-138, Chicago, IL 60654; 866-281-3567; interfaceflor.com .

Architectural Systems
This manufacturer, which also produces sleek bamboo tables and cubes, precisely mills Handcrafted Hardwood Flooring from virgin lumber. Each flooring strip is then stained and distressed individually, for a distinctive crackle finish. 150 West 25th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10001; 800-793-0224; archsystems.com .

Emma Gardner Design
Asian-inspired Spray spotlights spring branches budding on a background of sky blue. The flat-pile rug blends Tibetan wool with 35 percent Chinese silk at 100 knots per inch. 33 Marsh Road, Litchfield, CT 06759; 860-567-2290; emmagardnerdesign.com .

Tufenkian Carpets
Stucco tinted the red of tufa stone wraps the facade of this new showroom, designed outside and in by Clodagh. Walls plastered in amber, burnt orange, and ocher, a sandblasted concrete floor, two bubbling ponds, and a giant table of salvaged pine complete the rough-hewed artfulness—a fitting backdrop for the lush Tibetan and earthy Armenian rugs. Anyone can inspect the samples displayed on sliding racks. But only professionals and their clients have access to select rugs in the "designer's reserve" area. 8466 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069; 323-653-5405; tufenkiancarpets.com .

Barbro Lomakka
Swedish textile designer Barbro Lomakka's 3-D Felt rug mixes linen thread with wool felt from Gotland, where they're produced. The result is as chunky as a warm woolen pullover. Arvid, 251 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010; 800-226-1370.

Amtico
These vinyl tiles shimmer with a photo image that plumbs the op art legacy of painter Bridget Riley. To see the 18-inch squares in action, visit the company's Manhattan studio, where stripes flow boldly through the 2,000-square-foot space. 200 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016; 800-370-7324; amtico.com .

View Amtico products on BlueBolt.

Constantine Commercial
Flower, a cut-and-loop broadloom botanical, is made by needles threaded with nylon yarns in nine earth-tone combinations. A dark silky thread in the mix helps weave the illusion of hand-tufting. 525 Callahan Drive, Dalton, GA 30721; 800-308-4344; constantine-carpet.com .

Fort Street Studio
A twining "angels and insects" floral, Sparkler F045 incorporates the pale yellow and olive accents of a traditional faded Oushak. Think of the rug as a Rorschach inkblot, with mirror-image quadrants painstakingly hand-knotted in wild silk. 578 Broadway, Suite 506, New York, NY 10012; 212-925-5383; fortstreetstudio.com .