Artistry finds a place on the floor
There was a time when designers and decorators considered floor coverings to be background elements in a room. Rugs and tile were meant to be practical, not attention-getting.
That’s changed. Now, the floor is often one of the strongest elements in a space. Today’s wide range of artistic floor designs is often inspired by art and nature.
“Painterly rugs with evocative strokes and striking color combinations are often the perfect foundation for many of our room designs,” says Jamie Drake, who runs the Drake/Anderson design firm in Manhattan with his colleague Caleb Anderson. “These rugs help bring a room to life and, with their movement and color, accentuate the other design elements in the space.
“There’s something galvanizing” about having art underfoot, he says. “It envelops an interior in a way that wall-mounted artwork cannot.”
Stark Carpet
)hasa Brueghel-esque floral rug called Botanique; the rich, deep hues of an Old Master’s palette are brought to life in softly loomed wool. Its Sapphire collection includes Ether, inspired by American artist Helen Frankenthaler’s abstract expressionist stain painting. And there’s Peppy, inspired by Willem de Kooning’s 1955 work “Police Gazette,” with various hand knots reflecting movement and drama via textural elements.
Flowers are the theme of artist Bari J. Ackerman’s collection for Grandin Road Her exuberant contemporary paintings lead to stylish contemporary rugs, handhooked by artisans.
New York’s Doris Leslie Blau
stocks a collection of wool rugs inspired by the freewheeling expressiveness of children’s artwork. Each rug is a composition of colorful swoops and swaths.
Turkish rug-maker Stepevi pixellates bird-wing imagery, which is then loomed into a textural rug in a palette of seven hues. On another rug, blossoms are rendered in gold against a graphite background, suggesting dawn breaking. An embossing technique is applied during the tufting process to create a rich, tactile pile that highlights the pattern.
Tile is another good medium for floor art, with its smooth textures and a range of sizes, from tiny mosaics to large slabs.
“Tile is super-durable, so regardless of design, floors will look beautiful and withstand wear and tear for many years,” says Alena Capra, a designer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Thin tile products can be installed over existing floor tiles, making it easier than ever to give floors a stylish makeover.”
Says Italian architect Paola Marella: “Technological progress has expanded the range of finishes available for ceramic tiles. For example, digital printing has extended the confines of images beyond the individual piece. But screenprinted and hand-printed tiles retain their appeal.”
That appeal is especially apparent when the artist’s technique is obvious, as in Ornamenta’s Manifesto collection of porcelain tiles screen-printed with abstract images initially rendered freehand on canvas
New Ravenna features a chinoiserie bird-on-branch pattern made of marcasite, mica, pewter and quartz glass
The design was by artist Sara Baldwin of Exmoor, Va.
If you like the look of tile but you rent or can’t otherwise use the real deal, consider Home Smith’s Beija Flor vinyl mats
They come printed with a range of patterns like encaustic, mosaic and geometrics; it’s flooring that looks like a master craftsman or artist spent hours working on it.