Throughout his career, Victor Glemaud has looked at what he designs from every angle known to a fashion designer’s eye—until now, that is. When Glemaud, who made his name with curvaceous, size-inclusive, and inventively hued knitwear, started to collaborate with Patterson Flynn on a series of rugs—the company, owned by interiors brand Schumacher, is renowned for its artisanal carpets—he only had to look in one direction: Downward, to floor level.
“You’re designing something that likely will be, in part, covered—whether it’s by a sofa, or a chair, or a coffee table, or whatever,” said Glemaud, who’s making his second foray into interior design with this collection; the first was textiles for Schumacher, and a chance email exchange with them led him to designing the rugs. “What I had to figure out was: How do you get a variation in pattern and color, but also convey the same kind of softness that my knits have? In the end, you don’t want the rug to look or feel flat.”
To be sure: Glemaud succeeds in achieving the rich dimensionality he was aiming for. If I was unrolling one of Glemaud’s Patterson Flynn rugs in my home, I wouldn’t so much as put a footstool on it. With his mix of geodes and scrolling lines, floral-edged borders, and chevron zig zagging—not to mention his color palette (terracotta, pearl gray, azure, yellow)—I’d be loath to cover any of them. And in a moment when the statement rug can sometimes feel a bit like a bank statement—a dispiriting experience because you know exactly what it’s going to say (or in this case, look like)—Glemaud’s designs have a wit and a warmth which feel zingy and original.
