THE FLOOR’S THE LIMIT

Carpet expert Peter Page on starting from the bottom (of your room)

Peter Page, 42, flung open the doors to his carpet brand’s base in Lots Road, Chelsea, in May this year. It’s a lightfilled Thames wharf space, ideal for working with colour and texture. He learnt his craft at D&D New York working with highend fabric, wallpaper and carpets. ‘I loved learning about the weaving processes from hand-knotted, hand-loomed to traditional Wilton looms and working collaboratively with designers on projects,’ he says. ‘These age-old techniques that had character and charm, and then you throw in all the beautiful yarns. I was hooked!’

His own home is wall-to-wall hand-woven water reed with a scattering of rugs, such as a few custom jute kilims and an undyed, bobbly wool rug in his spare room. His output combines innovation with traditional techniques, which results in ‘hopefully understated elegance that is quite timeless’, with ‘a few wild cards thrown in for fun’. Artisanal craftsmanship and utilising recycled wool is also important. ‘I believe this is a yarn that has great potential and we will be liaising closely with our mills to ensure we understand the potential this fibre has.’

The things we need to note for carpet in 2022 are that ‘colour and texture are really popular in rugs, runners and carpets currently, but with a move towards geometric patterns and away from stripes for runners’. Naturals of course ‘continue to be strong’, with jute and sisal the focus, ‘especially the handwoven collections’. One thing we should all explore are rugs made from rPET (recycled plastic bottles). ‘It’s an ever-growing trend and the material is easy to maintain and feels good.’ Finally, Page is seeing a rise in people wanting semi-custom products, ‘so they can have their own colours’. Underfoot doesn’t have to be underdone.