An artist works in a particular medium for the specific characteristics and constraints it provides. Transferring a piece of art from one medium to another necessarily alters it—but the results can be surprisingly interesting and evocative. In creating the Designers Studio collection of rugs, New York City carpet company Warp & Weft took a chance that this aesthetic translation would work—and the resulting rugs illustrate the remarkable results.

Horizon Caspian rug. Designed by Annette Rusin for Warp & Weft.

Rugs Inspired by Chrysanthemums and Rothko

Artist Annette Rusin, who typically works with paper, plays with the effects of layering translucent materials “to create luminous and tactile surfaces and environments.” She is also a sculptor and installation artist, so her sense of form and space is well honed. But adapting the lightness of paper into a heavy medium such as woven rugs seems impossible. In a paradoxical sleight of hand, Rusin takes advantage of the beauty of weight to create a sense of the ethereal. She accomplishes this through the use of negative space and gradating color.

Chrysanthemums Blue and Chrysanthemums Oak are the first two designs that Rusin actualized for Michael Mandapati, Warp & Weft’s founder. Based on Rusin’s Blue Chrysanthemums series, a collection of artworks made from paper works on vellum, these two rugs show three expressionistic flowers on a field of color. The irregular strokes of these organic shapes look just as variable in woven form. And the one-hued background simulates the expanse of a sheet of paper, especially in Chrysanthemums Oak, whose color resembles parchment.

After the success of the Chrysanthemums rugs, Rusin worked collaboratively with Mandapati to realize the Horizons Series, a collection of five designs based on the work of artist Mark Rothko. “Invoking the subtle character of a Rothko painting,” these Designers Studio rugs use washes of color in horizontal bands and imposed squares. Each manages to get across the beauty of a specific geography: Horizon Caspian uses rose, orange, and gold to evoke the exoticism of this Persian body of water, while Horizon Pacific features only blues to represent the vastness of this ocean (where explorers long past were often lost amidst the azure). All of Rusin’s creations are available in 8′ x 10′, 9′ x 12′, and 10′ x 14′; they can also be ordered in custom sizes.

About the Manufacturer: Warp & Weft was founded by Michael Mandapati in 2001. Based in New York City, the company offers a portfolio of antique and modern rugs. As its name implies, Warp & Weft is concerned with “what is fundamental and essential in design.” Craft, color, and texture intersect to form a unified whole that sets the tone for the entire room: “The overall design of a space is spun out from the core or matrix that the rug provides.”