Alpha to Omega

Mark McMenamin, Athena Waligore, and Craig Kellogg -- Interior Design, 2/1/2012 2:00:00 AM

As executive director of the nonprofit Alpha Workshops, Kenneth Wampler had trained people living with HIV and AIDS to create practically anything you can think of: furniture, lamps, wallpaper, decorative finishes. But not flooring. That changed with Edward Fields Carpet Makers's Alpha Workshops Edition.

Adapted from archival­ samples provided by Wampler, the 13 hand-tufted rugs have Greek names as a nod to Alpha's. In Haldis, multiple levels of wool and matte silk replicate marble. Bedros features streaks of flax across a ground combining flax with matte silk. Epifanio reinterprets a finish on a clay sculpture in wool and glittery Lurex. Hester­ takes an exercise in developing­ a screen print and reimagines it in wool and matte silk. And Phaedra's white viscose on bright yellow wool recalls an Alpha specialty that's not Greek but Japanese, the 14th-century lacquering technique negoro-nuri.

The standard size is 8 by 10 feet. Or customize. 212-310-0400; edwardfields­.com.