Designer floors: Thom Browne partners with The Rug Company

High-end carpet company presents new fashion forward collaboration

Thom Browne's Cable Knit carpet, designed for The Rug Company

The Rug Company has unveiled its latest designer collaboration: a collection of three carpets created in partnership with fashion designer Thom Browne.

There’s a striking simplicity to each piece that is reflective of Browne’s perfectly tailored, handmade suits, which have found their way into museums such as the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Fashion Museum in Bath. The colour grey, something of a Browne trademark, is the primary shade in this collection – but in this instance, is rendered sophisticated rather than dull.

“We’ve been admirers of Thom and his work for many years. We knew his work would translate strongly into interiors. The rugs he has designed, in a similar way to his clothes, have a clarity and personality that makes them both desirable and impactful,” says Christopher Sharp, co-founder of The Rug Company.

Translating Browne’s precision tailoring pushed The Rug Company to experiment with new weaving techniques. For example, the Cable Knit design takes its inspiration from a classic Aran jumper, and is designed to evoke the same traditional knit pattern, but updated and reworked. The rug has effectively been hand-carved, with the design engraved into the rug, using a new technique developed by The Rug Company’s weavers in Nepal.

Firstly, the pattern is drawn by hand and then pin-pricked into very thin paper, which is laid on top of a plain, hand knotted rug. The paper is then covered in fine chalk dust, which seeps through the holes and creates a template. The paper is removed, and the weavers are left to follow the chalk template, carefully cutting and carving into the wool pile of the rug to create the design.

Meanwhile, for another of the designers, repp stripes, which have become something of a signature for Brown, are depicted in silk on a wool background of the exact same colour, which allows the natural sheen of the silk yarns to bring out the subtle lines. A subtle blue, red and white border offers a touch of contrast to the rest of the rug.

The rugs by are available now at The Rug Company’s the showroom in Alserkal, Dubai.