Oftentimes, what lies beneath our feet gets very little notice, but it’s certainly not the case when we’re talking about fine antique rugs. Whether the setting is classic or modern, we feel these venerable, handmade carpets add undeniable allure and luxury to any room lucky enough to hold them.
For the best of the best, our favorite source is Doris Leslie Blau, and we were thrilled when this renowned purveyor of handmade carpets recently asked us to collaborate on a very special project. To commemorate some of the finest pieces in their astounding collection, they invited a handful of designers to select a favorite piece and use it to create a mouth-watering inspirational vignette. With the rug as our muse, we each created our own tableaus, which DLB subsequently photographed and assembled into a gorgeous coffee table book.
We fell in love with this amazing Persian Kirman, which dates from the early 20th century. Depicting the tree of life and rendered in a mixture of subtle, golden earth tones, rich teals and muted greens, the rug inspired us to create an homage to the wonders of nature and life. Fresh flowers and rock crystal speak to nature’s bounty while an antique engraving and a gilded Italian urn express man’s fascination with capturing and displaying the natural world. Finally, we completed our tribute to nature with an exquisite piece of chocolate cake as we both feel that life would not be worth living without the finest of Mother Nature’s confections!
Ultimately, this stunning antique carpet took us on a flight of fancy. We can easily imagine a spectacular room built upon this old Kirman and the collection of ideas and objects we scattered
upon it.
