Christopher John Rogers teams up with The Rug Company: 'There's a larger visual language that we're developing'

Since its inception 29 years ago, The Rug Company has made carpets as stylish as anything you might find in your own wardrobe, from an early collection with Marni to a 2005 collaboration with Vivienne Westwood to a series of partnerships with Alexander McQueen. Today, the London-based company has added yet another sartorial supernova to its roster: award-winning New York designer Christopher John Rogers.

The 10-piece collection of knotted and flatweave rugs, called The Studio, is an ode to creative processes. Rogers looked to his own musings, mark-making and marginalia and translated them into colour-drenched abstractions.

‘We started with the actual process of making things. Marker tests, brushstrokes, colour studies, little scribbles and tailoring marks. That might seem inconsequential on their own, but become quite beautiful when you isolate them or change their scale,’ the US400 designer tells Wallpaper*. ‘I'm always interested in taking something familiar and pushing it just far enough that it becomes a little unfamiliar.’

One pattern, called ‘Chalk Line,’ was inspired by the marks Rogers and his studio will make before cutting into a piece of cloth. ‘Marker Test’ is a series of vigorous squiggles that, when enlarged, create a jubilant chequered pattern. ‘Paintstroke,’ meanwhile, is a pattern reminiscent of vertical bands of desaturated watercolours.

‘I love the idea that something so ordinary and disposable can become the basis for an object that's been so carefully made. Ultimately, I think that's what the collection is about — finding beauty and possibility in things we might otherwise overlook,’ Rogers says.

This isn’t the designer’s first foray into the home world; he’s also collaborated with the furniture company Orior as well as Farrow & Ball. But he welcomed the chance to work on a rug collection. ‘Floor coverings felt like a particularly interesting proposition because they occupy so much visual and physical space within a room,’ he says.

For Will Cooper, creative director of The Rug Company, the collaboration was the obvious choice. ‘I wanted this collection to feel young, sophisticated and sexy, like Chris’s fashion world, while translating naturally into interiors today,’ he says.

Rogers’ creative processes, including his technical eye for textiles, fostered a fruitful dialogue over the course of the partnership. ‘He is quite specific about colour, so that was certainly a conversation when we got to the dyes. We adjusted quite a few shades to satisfy his discerning eye,’ Cooper says.

Unlike Rogers’ garments, the palette in The Studio collection is dialed down. ‘I think people might be expecting bright, wild colours, but Chris was very aware that these pieces need to live in a home. We get to see what a slightly more muted CJR looks like in that setting,’ Cooper adds.

The resulting rugs – just like their design and making – are meant to add yet another story to your home.

‘I've never really thought about CJR as something that should only exist on the body,’ Rogers says, reflecting on his label. ‘There's a larger visual language that we're developing, and I love the idea of giving people different ways to participate in that world.’