Calvin Klein and Nourison preview contemporary rugs
By Lissa Wyman -- Furniture Today, November 12, 2001
New York — Calvin Klein Home's first rug collection is about as far removed from traditional rug design as you can get.
It is powered by a subtle sensuality rather than an in-your-face display of pattern.
"This is a story of texture and gradations of color. It's about touch and tonality. It's not something that jumps up and hits you in the face," said Alex Peykar, a principal of Nourison, which will make and market the line.
Many of the rugs feature an interplay of wool and silk. The palette ranges from tone-on-tone shadings to vivid splashes of color, with emphasis on earthy beiges and rich browns, silvery gray, terra cotta, midnight blue, plums and olives.
Both traditional vegetable dyes and modern chromium dyes are used, often in combination with one another.
Over a year in development, the Calvin Klein-Nourison collaboration has resulted in nearly three dozen designs in a broad range of constructions, sizes and retail price points.
The contemporary styling mixes strong linear themes and bare traces of tone-on-tone pattern. The rugs are made in five weaves, including hand-knotted, hand-tufted, hand-knotted Tibetan weave, hand-woven flatweaves and power-loom. Prices range from $700 to $3,800 in a 5'6" by 8 size. Most are available in six sizes, from 3 by 5 to 9'6" by 13'6".
"With the Calvin Klein partnership, we have attempted to bring something new to rug styling. The collection emphasizes an easy elegance with hand-finished touches that make the rugs unique to the market," said Peykar.
The rugs, given a preview reception at the Calvin Klein shop in New York, are slated for a full-scale introduction at the Atlanta International Rug Market in January.
| LEFT: Carved Lines is a power-loomed Calvin Klein rug from Nourison with hand-carved detailing. It retails at about $1,200 in a 5'6" by 8. |
| RIGHT : Sienna Bands from Calvin Klein Home is hand loomed in a flat woven construction. The rug retails at about $675 in a 5'6" by 8. |
