By Jennifer Quail
NEW YORK–With an eye to bring something to market that would set a standard even in the high-end segment, Classic Rug Collection has debuted a line of pure silk rugs appropriately titled The Luxe Collection.
“This segment of the marketplace is the only part that’s really selling right now,” Barbara Barran, president and designer of Classic Rug, said of the luxury business. “But still, to survive in that market you have to have something no one else is making.”
Barran’s solution came literally by way of the ancient Silk Road, where she found the inspiration for the entire Luxe line in a small 330-knot Oriental rug she purchased in Kashgar, China, while traveling for a different project four years ago. She said “after looking at it, and its beautiful colors, for three years,” it finally morphed into her next project. The end result is The Luxe Collection, which includes both 300-knot rugs of pure silk and 150-knot rugs of pashmina and silk.
The five pure silk rugs feature tone-on-tone designs, in metallic colors like silver, bronze, gold and platinum. The designs use high-low cut pile to highlight their simple, geometric patterns, which take inspiration from varied sources. Intrigue, for example, was inspired by Moroccan-carved window panels; Turkish takes its cue from an Iznik tile pattern; and Chinoise is based on a large-scale Chinese character. One pattern, Jewel Box, steps away from the tonal treatment with vividly colored “precious stones” in cut silk on a looped platinum-colored field.
The rugs in The Luxe Collection will retail for $250 per square foot for the pure silk pieces and $185 per square foot for the pashmina/silk designs. Barran said the right placement for the Luxe line is “a very high-end retailer who is willing to understand and promote the collection for what it is.” She added she is, as always, “willing to travel to promote the line myself.”
The rugs are handmade in Nepal by a RugMark-certified factory and available in custom sizes, colors and shapes. For custom designs, the client can even have her initials knotted into a corner of the rug for no additional charge. Delivery times will vary from three to five months, depending on the rug’s size.