Bestselling rugs in Europe Part 1

Following hard on the heels of last issue’s Best-sellers USA article, here Lucy Upward looks at the best-selling rugs for twenty-eight European brands. How do they compare to the winning designs stateside, and can we learn anything about what sells well this side of the pond? We explore this question...

When I asked Bonnie Sutton of Knots Rugs about the brand’s best-selling design she offered the recent Dusk rug from the collection with Nat Maks, which she said is ‘best selling within a first-year time frame’. When I asked why she believes it sold so well, she comments: ‘There definitely seems to have been an upsurge of interest in paper marbling over this last year. Nat has just done all the packaging for Molton Brown and it looks amazing. It’s so dynamic and intricate and modern and bold, and yet completely calm and serene at the same time.’

This comment brings two thoughts to my mind, when framing my points for this article. Sometimes a collection hits the market at the perfect time, which can be due to a savvy company owner or it can be a bit of luck. What customers buy into at any one time is hard to predict and can be influenced by far too many factors to know which will be the dominant one. By the time a hand-knotted rug collection has been designed, sampled, made and signed off, a trend can have well and truly passed its prime.

Second, from what I can tell about many best-selling rugs—be they in the USA or Europe—there is a certain criterion that they need to follow. The complicated formula looks something like this: a design that is unique and alluring yet not too attention-grabbing within an interior space. There is a fine balance when choosing colour that is not too bright, character that is not too bold and a design that says just the right amount of ‘look-at-me’. Where these limits sit seems variable, and you cannot argue with a rug bought purely as a statement piece. Read part 2 here.

Amini

The Tapizoo collection by Gabetti & Isola was originally made on a semi-mechanical loom. Amini Carpets revisited the designs as hand-knotted rugs with carved pile. Tapipardo is a winning design.

Floor Story

A consistently popular rug, Diagonal Melt, designed by Henry Holland, is a best-seller for London’s Floor Story. Inspired by 80s and 90s rave culture, it is surely a real winner for Gen X buyers with an eye for fun design.

La Manufacture Cogolin

First presented in 2015, it is the Jardin Intérieur collection designed by India Mahdavi that sells well for Cogolin. While many classic patterns from the brand’s archives continue to do well, it is this series that draws customers in.

édition 1.6.9.

Out of the many fabulous rugs in the brand’s inventory, it is the handtufted Espiguette design that is a best-seller for Paris-based édition 1.6.9. The textural rug is tufted with worsted wool and silk.

cc-tapis

Bliss Ultimate rug ( in the standard colour combination), designed by Mae Engelgeer, is cc-tapis’s best-seller in Europe and the only non-rectangular rug in the top-sellers list for Europe.

Deidre Dyson

Deirdre Dyson’s Falling Ribbons has received the firm’s most customisations. Interior design Charlotte Lane Fox recently commissioned a pair of complementary carpets based on the design for a residential home.

Knots Rugs

The recent collection Knots Rugs undertook with marbling expert Nat Maks has been the best-selling series within a ‘first years’ time frame. The Dusk design is hand-knotted in Tibetan wool, Chinese silk and linen.