Handmade rugs are perpetual objects of desire, sought after for their expressive designs and intricate combinations of pattern and color. Whether hand-knotted or handwoven, their tactile quality completes any well-furnished interior. A rug often occupies fully a third of a room and, if antique, is also often its most expensive single item, yet there has never been a book presenting decorative carpets as an integral component of interior design until now. Decorative carpet expert Alix G. Perrachon has, for the first time, compiled a book to guide all interested in placing handmade carpets in contemporary spaces—from individual homeowners to interior designers and their clients. Inside, thirty-two of America’s most celebrated designers—including Penny Drue Baird, Samuel Botero, Clodagh, Jamie Drake, David Easton, Thomas Jayne, Juan Montoya, Suzanne Tucker, Bunny Williams, and Vicente Wolf—discuss in animated terms how, and which pieces, they choose from the infinite array of handmade decorative carpets available in the market today. Their selections are illustrated with luxurious images drawn from their own work, revealing rugs ranging from Agras, Aubussons, and Axminsters to modern Tibetan and transitional designs in every style of interior from traditional to contemporary. In addition to engaging, accessible text and 300 full-color illustrations, The Decorative Carpet provides purchasing and care essentials, presents the twenty most popular types of rugs used by designers today—along with a brief description of the defining characteristics and history of each—and includes a glossary and suggestions for further reading, providing all the tools necessary for all those eager to explore the intriguing, expansive world of handmade decorative carpets to begin.

"In 1927, the critic Rene Chavance identified carpet production as the most successful of the decorative arts in achieving 'the more visionary aims of the times'. Susan Day's book, a work of original scholarship accompanied throughout by illustrations both of the carpets themselves and of contemporary interiors, demonstrates that these Art Deco carpets have lost none of their decorative power. A significant number of the carpets are shown precisely as they were meant to be seen, within the rooms for which they were made." "The fruits of the remarkable Art Deco efflorescence throughout Europe form the first part of the book. In the second, the focus turns to the reaction against the artistes-decorateurs by the champions of modernism. In France, the designs of Sonia Delaunay, Eileen Gray and Jean Lurcat evoked collage and Cubism; the Bauhaus and Scandinavia provided different influences. The fashion for abstract and modernist rugs was further stimulated by limited editions of rugs woven from works by such artists as Picasso, Klee and Miro, while in the USA, designers developed a style that was distinctly American." "This visual feast, of appeal not only to carpet collectors and textile specialists but to anyone with an interest in 20th-century design, ranges from the supremely imaginative achievements of Paul Poiret's unique weaving studio, the Ecole Martine, to the Scandinavian folk traditions of Marta Maas-Fjetterstrom, the innovations of Frank Lloyd Wright and Donald Deskey in the USA and Gunta Stolzl's handwoven carpets in Germany. The book's invaluable reference section includes detailed information on artists, manufacturers and retailers, their signatures and monograms, and a glossary and bibliography." --Book Jacket.

The richness of Near Eastern art is epitomized by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Persian carpets. Among the finest ever produced, the two Ardabil carpets are believed to have been made as offerings for the Shrine of Sheikh Safi at Ardabil during the Safavid dynasty in sixteenth-century Persia. In this text Rexford Stead, deputy director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, explores the intricacies of the Ardabil carpets—one formerly in the Getty Museum and now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the other in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. A bibliography and exhibition history are included.

* Shedding light on a forgotten age of the Persian carpet, this publication offers a complete reassessment of weaving in the period 1722-1872 in Iran, featuring many previously unpublished pieces in full colorThis publication sets out to investigate a significant yet overlooked era of carpet weaving in Iran. The time-span stretches between two highly significant dates, which are exactly 150 years apart. The first, 1722, marks the downfall of the Safavid dynasty. The second date, 1872, represents the formal start of the modern carpet revival, when increased demand attracted European attention and changed the industry's structure. Prevailing opinion has hitherto been that in-between not much happened and that there was an overall decline in carpet production. Thankfully that is not the case, otherwise this book would not exist. New evidence brings to light a period of design evolution, thriving workshops and prestigious commissions. Through careful study of documentary sources, artworks in different media but first and foremost the hand-knotted rugs themselves, the glory of this forgotten age of the Persian carpet is brought to life.

Oriental Carpets have always been prized in the West as luxury items, and this is a stunning showcase of 100 of the greatest oriental carpets in the V&A. The carpets in the book range from Chinese to Turkish and there is a section on popular kilims and flatweaves. The basic techniques of carpet weaving are explained alongside diagrams and photographic details showing how to interpret the structure of any carpet.

Filled with hundreds of gorgeous examples, this book is a comprehensive study of European and American carpets and rugs from the Middle Ages to the present day. The rich and inventive tradition of European and American carpets continues to inspire artists, designers, and decorators, while collectors and historians increasingly value carpets as important works of art. In this comprehensive volume, Sarah Sherrill examines Western carpet design and production from the Middle Ages to the present, in styles that range from magnificent palatial creations to delightful folk designs. With hundreds of dazzling illustrations, Sherrill's authoritative text includes chapters on Moorish weavers and the golden age of carpets in Spain; the exquisite carpets of the Savonnerie, Aubusson, and Beauvais in France; productions from Moorfields, Exeter, and Axminster in England; the intriguing but little-studied rugs of Eastern European countries; the charming and resourceful rugs of America; and an important chapter on modern designs that offers an extensive survey of rugs created by leading artists and architects of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Sherrill's stimulating text, based on years of research, brims with interesting new findings, not only on the history and design of these works, but also technological developments that had an often unrecognized effect on rug design and production. Supplementing the hundreds of reproductions of carpets are many views of the lavish rooms for which they were designed, as well as brilliant watercolor carpet designs, technical drawings clarifying weave and knot structures, and maps, making this an indispensable resource for historians, collectors, and anyone interested in beautiful furnishings and textiles. Sarah B. Sherrill, an authority on Western and Eastern carpets and rugs, has published many articles on the subject over the last two decades. She is on the faculty of The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts in New York and has taught in the graduate program in the history of decorative arts at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum/Parsons School of Design in New York. She is editor in chief of The Bard Graduate Center's journal Studies in the Decorative Arts and was an editor for over twenty years at the magazine Antiques. 400 illustrations