There’s a great Mad Men episode in which the boss concocts fake meetings with his underlings solely to gauge their opinion on his recently purchased piece of abstract art—a famous piece by Mark Rothko. Mostly, they’re baffled into silence, but one of the more astute among them remarks, “There’s something more to it. It’s deep. Like you could fall in.” The very same might be said of the expressionistic quality of the Designer’s Reserve Carpet Collection by Vicente Wolf for Tufenkian.

Dunes. Designed by Vicente Wolf. Manufactured by Tufenkian.

Vicente Wolf’s Designer’s Reserve Carpets Eschew Traditional Patterns

In fact, much of Vicente Wolf’s work does away with pattern entirely. The Manhattan-based designer is known for his eclectic and versatile aesthetic, having not only outfitted multinational conglomerates and private homes in the U.S., but also residences in France, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Sweden.

Given the broad scope and expansive range of Wolf’s work, it’s no surprise that he makes no qualms about the expressionistic nature of the Designer Carpets Collection: “I’m not a person for pattern… I wanted a sense of abstractness that could play with the tones and materials being used in the rugs.”

Each of the four styles in Wolf’s Designer’s Reserve Collection plays with our notions of texture and perception. Indeed, in creating a specific referent, they all establish the kind of multiple meanings inherent in good art: “Dunes” creates the appearance of striated sand, as if molded by a desert wind; “Streets of Paris” resembles a cryptic cityscape, perhaps as seen through the eyes of a magical realist author; “Here and There” contains exactly the sense of profundity of a Rothko painting, evoking the fathomless depths and subtle oscillations of the sea; and “Ven” plays with the notion of movement—its abstract lines imply everything from tentacles to river grasses.

As with all Tufenkian Rugs, each of the carpets in Vicente Wolf’s Reserve Collection is free of child labor. They’re constructed of a 75/25 blend of silk and Tibetan Wool with a pile height of 0.28 inches.

About the Manufacturer: Tufenkian was founded after owner James Tufenkian traveled to Nepal in 1986. There, he met Tsetan Gyurman, a master weaver in exile from Tibet: “He and Tsetan formed a partnership, and friendship, based on a shared commitment to growing a business, and making it a vehicle for advancing social justice in the places where they worked.” Tufenkian brings traditional Armenian rugs to the Western market, while simultaneously promoting sustainable, cruelty-free manufacture and promoting local production. The company also offers a Designer’s Reserve line with work by Vicente Wolf, Barbara Barry, Mark Pollack, and Kevin Walz.