Vivienne Westwood for The Rug Company

Vivienne Westwood’s latest collection for The Rug Company combines her quintessentially bold designs with her deep sense of heritage. Her constant references to traditional British motifs are subverted and reinvented to create thoroughly modern and decorative designs.

Vivienne has a long standing association with Scotland and their traditional fabrics such as Harris Tweed, wools and plaids. In 1993 Westwood produced her own tartan called ‘MacAndreas’, named after her husband and design partner, Andreas Kronthaler.

The Thistle rug is a gesture to Vivienne’s affinity with Scotland. An abstract graphic of the regal milk thistle, Scotland’s national emblem is hand knotted with fine silk yarns on a Tibetan wool back- ground. The design is available in muted dusty rose with gold and dove grey with gunmetal, the silk yarns lending the thistle motifs a captivating iridescence.

Moiré is a traditional fabric technique historically used by Westwood on grand silk taVeta ball gowns and velvet suiting, in solid colours to create a fluid water like movement. For a con- temporary feel, Vivienne uses the traditional Moiré motif on the rug with high contrasting shades of soft black and natural white, blown up to maximise the monochrome eVect, creating a statement piece.

Reminiscent of an English rose garden in full bloom, the Vivienne’s Rose print with its wide open buds and micro detailed thorn stems has a botanical illustrative like quality, painted using a soft aquarelle watercolour technique. The details in Vivienne’s Rose are emphasised by careful blend-ing of the hand spun yarns of Tibetan wool, which are then knotted by hand into a rug.

The design has also been translated into a finely hand woven tapestry cushion, available in two colourways, blushed ruby red and dusky plum.

The Vivienne Westwood collection is available exclusively from The Rug Company showrooms. Each piece has been woven entirely by hand by craftsmen using the age-old weav-ing techniques and the finest natural yarns for which The Rug Company is renowned.