Useful and Beautiful
New rugs from Laura Stephens and Bombay Sprout
Good design should always be both beautiful and practical – elegantly exemplified by the new bespoke hand-woven jute rugs by Laura Stephens and Bombay Sprout. All five designs – Skye, Alys, Pearl, Joni and Tessa – are a joyful juxtaposition of colour and pattern, with decorative borders inspired by 19thcentury antique ribbons, representing, in the words of their creators, “the fusion of beauty and practicality for everyday life”. Hand-woven by a family of fourthgeneration weavers in Northern India on traditional looms, these durable rugs celebrate the heritage of pattern, from timeless stripes to whimsical vines and splashes of pink and sky blue.
A shared passion for eclectic interiors and design brought together interior designer Laura Stephens and Bombay Sprout founder Zara BolingbrokeKent, who say of their new collection: “As our lives are wonderfully busy, and our houses are full of friends and family, nothing can be too precious. Our aspiration with this collection was to ensure that our rugs were beautiful, practical and durable to make our homes sing.”
The duo chose jute for its sustainability and durability, being 100 per cent biodegradable and recyclable and a renewable source grown without fertilisers and pesticides. These rugs are easy to care for and hold their depth of colour, even after years of use. Each takes up to 12 weeks to produce, from hand-harvesting the jute to weaving it.
With over two decades of experience as an interior designer, in 2017 Zara founded North Norfolk independent design studio and shop Bombay Sprout offering decorative homewares and rugs made in India. Today it is one of the UK’s leading rug studios, with clients worldwide. Laura’s London-based residential interior design practice undertakes projects of various sizes, creating beautiful, practical interiors to elevate her clients’ mood and bring pleasure to the everyday, elegantly layering pattern, texture, light, colour and details. bombaysprout.com; laurastephens.co.uk