Tradition makes a comeback in rug design

Funky Rugs, the online retailer of designer rugs, says that traditional rug designs are making a comeback. The online rug store first saw an increase in traditional styles in magazine features for the specialist design market as well as in mass-market lifestyle magazines. Now it’s seeing that trend reflected in sales and customer enquiries.

“There’s always a lag between what interests interior design specialists and trend-watchers, and what real people choose for their homes,” says Steven Handley, marketing director at Funky Rugs. “Designer trends don’t always translate into retail sales. But now that we’ve see an increase in traditional rugs passing through our online checkout, we know that the style really has caught the public imagination.”

Customers of Funky Rugs (www.funkyrugs.co.uk) have always enjoyed a wide choice of contemporary and traditional rug designs. But nowadays they’re choosing traditional styles more frequently than they used to. Research undertaken by Funky Rugs suggests that customers like to choose their rug styles by design house. And since Funky Rugs stocks many of the world’s leading rug-design houses, the site has been able to capitalise on the surge in interest in traditional styles.

The design house that captures the traditional mood best is Nourison, the American rug designer that works with designers such as Calvin Klein. Many of its traditional ranges such as Symphony, Riviera, Chambord, Versailles, Julian, Persian, and Ashton House are available at Funky Rugs. These are opulent rugs for rooms that hark back to an era of quality and certainty. And yet, in the hands of the Nourison design team, those values are as up-to-the-minute as this year’s haute couture. Nourison has the ability to constantly reinvent design classics for a modern audience that wants a traditional mood woven into a 21st-century look.

To see how traditional rug styles can work equally well in stately homes and urban lofts, visit www.funkyrugs.co.uk.