Grounded Decor

There’s an oft repeated phrase in the design world: “Always start with the rug.” But Michelle R. Smith never really felt bound by this maxim until she embarked on a collaboration with Nordic Knots. “It’s something I’ve heard forever, but I’ve never really followed in practice,” the Brooklyn-based interior designer admits, adding that she tended to combine textiles in a way that “allows the rug to be an afterthought.” 

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Consequently, Smith worked backward from her typical approach to conceive four new rugs for the brand renowned for its high-quality artisanal Scandinavian roots. (More than a decade ago, she also shared a studio in New York City with Nordic Knots co-founder Liza Berglund Laserow.) Among Smith's core inspirations for the designs is a circa 1980s lime-green-and-lavender pocket square from Esprit she discovered on Etsy, featuring a small trompe l’oeil pill print. “The tiny, detailed patterns can work with nearly any outfit,” she offers. “I wanted the rugs to function the same way: versatile, layered, but with personality.”

The Esprit pocket square directly informed the Orleans carpet, which features a thick, dark green border framing a grid of criss-crossing diagonal rectangles of the same color on a cream background. “I see it working almost anywhere,” says Smith. “I’d love to see it in Pauline de Rothschild’s bedroom. The rug’s woven pattern could echo the parquet floor’s pattern.”

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The remaining three designs—Pointe, Jute Stripes, and Pierce—offer further variations on muted geometric abstractions. The first combines two shades of warm terracotta with lines of circles and squares tracing a checkerboard pattern on a lighter backdrop. Jute Stripes represents its namesake jute weave, which uses natural fibers, while the other three are flatweaves—meaning, rugs assembled by weaving threads on a loom, without knotting. And finally Pierce unfurls with a repeating motif of four small dark-brown squares that form a cross through the negative space of the cream background. 

Smith is especially happy with the versatility of the results. “They can live in so many different spaces,” she says. “Just seeing the rugs out in the world, and the campaign looking original and fresh—that’s the really satisfying part.”