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.”
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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.
