Rock star rugs onstage in their living room
Couple creates edgy designs from comfort of their High Park studio
When you think rugs, you inevitably think Oriental or kilim or your mom’s safe, neutral broadloom. You don’t normally go to Wonder Woman, Lady Gaga or your cat’s portrait.
But Totem Rug Design is not your mother’s rug company. Totem is the rock star of custom-carpet design, with clients such as Slash of Guns N’ Roses fame.
The boutique company is lodged in a cool, centuryold house in High Park shared by co-owners and couple Robyn Waffle and Yvan Semenowycz, and their cats Scrumpy and Moorko (the name translates into “one who meows” in Ukrainian).
Waffle is a veteran of the fashion/communications program at Ryerson. She studied fashion illustration, and graphic and web design, segueing into designing for a rug company until she went out on her own. Then she met Semenowycz, who had studied industrial design at OCAD and subsequently worked at a slew of lighting design, industrial design and furniture design companies. He also did custom art work and consultations.
Their work space/residence encompasses the entire first floor. The living room has been converted into a boardroom-cum-studio and the dining room serves as the ersatz living room, with leather couches sporting Frida Kahlo and Our Lady of Guadeloupe throw cushions.
A tapestry featuring Wonder Woman hangs on a wall adjacent to shelving. There’s also an eight-foot rug portrait of Lady Gaga, plus a rendition of Botticelli’s Birth of Venusby Waffle with a black cat at the lower left and a Moët & Chandon champagne label in the background.
The place is decorated in thrift-shopped objects including a papier-mâché lamp and an old taxidermy of a deer head with floppy doggie ears, a fave because it looks so goofy. On the work table are tons of “poms,” which resemble tufts of powder puffs and are used as samples for colours they submit to the manufacturers. The rugs are hand-woven in Nepal, India, Thailand or England.
The couple, in their early 30s, has worked together for a year and a half. Semenowycz already lived here; Waffle moved in a year ago and they then converted the space into a live/work studio.
She is rock ’n’ roll, he is preppy, but they have a shared vision of their business: statement rugs.
“They (other rug designers) don’t take the risks and are more traditional,” Waffle points out. “We make rugs for rock stars so we’re in an edgy category."
Waffle met Slash at the Templar hotel in Toronto. “I showed him my prayer rug on my phone,” she recalls. “‘You can make anything I want?’ he asked.”
She created one for him based on the image from his Apocalyptic Love Tour, “an androgynous devil and a buxom angel sitting on one of Slash’s top hats.” It took a year to make with tons of tweaks. The rug measures five-by-six feet and cost $6,000. “We made him a deal,” Waffle says. “He is the perfect case study of the client we want to attract.”
Pricing can skew high because the rugs are hand-knotted.
“A kilim rug is like designing pixel art and could run up to $3,600,” Waffle explains. “Rugs can seem oldfashioned,” Semenowycz allows. “But rugs can be cool, tell a tale, not just your grandma’s roses (but Guns N’ Roses). Most of our stuff ends up on the wall, not floor.”
As for the Totem name: “A totem tells a story,” he explains. “A totem is a symbol of a thought or idea that is important to a person,” Semenowycz adds. “Frida Kahlo is a totem to me,” Waffle says, indicating her Kahlo tattoo. Why working at home works for them The apartment comprises 3,000 square feet with three bedrooms so they don’t bump into each other. “We renovated ourselves,” adds Semenowycz. “I just finished painting the fireplace.”
“We designed and built shelves to house books and supplies,” Waffle explains. “We can store rugs and fit in rugs up to 10 feet long.”
Working and living together as a couple can be problematic but they make it work. “We’re lucky because we get along really well,” says Waffle. “It is fun even during renovations. He is awesome; he jumps in and paints. He is super-handy.”
Waffle works in casual attire; Semenowycz not so much. “I work in shirt, belt and pants and nice shoes as if I were in an office; I feel in work mode,” he says.
“If it’s grunt work, I’m fine being in house clothes,” Waffle says.
“But I’ll shower and get into my business attire if need be.” Why working at home doesn’t work for them “The house is crazy; stuff is all over the place all the time,” says Waffle “That’s why it’s by appointment only. One night, we are in our p.j.’s, food on the stove and someone shows up looking for the actual ‘store.’ I had to run and put clothes on.”
“I’m not like Robyn. I like to keep work separate from play time,” Semenowycz says.
“If I do have a disagreement with my life partner, I have to be tactful and present it and explain it. It is hard for me because I am direct. Robyn likes to tell a story with florid details.” Combating cabin fever “That’s why I work at the library,” Semenowycz says.
“I don’t get cabin fever at all,” Waffle insists. “I’m a homebody and I can work 14 hours straight and then just get a coffee and carry on.”
“I can escape,” Semenowycz adds. “We have the most beautiful park in the city and the ’hood is so beautiful. There are lots of coffee houses on Roncey (for me to go to).” Separating work from home The poms get stashed away and the board room morphs back into private-life mode. The work table becomes a dining table or game table. Some rugs get stored; some are layered on the floor.
“Everything is contained here unless it’s in storage,” Waffle says. “We’re renovating the lower level apartment to act as a design space for a showroom. We are looking to have space and show the larger area rugs and put pieces on the wall — completely separate from our home.”