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The Rug Company
COLLABORATIVE
BEGINNINGS
There is one thing that remains at the heart of The Rug
Company’s continued success and that is collaboration.
From the very first designer collections to creating rugs
with teams of skilled craftspeople in Nepal, co-founders
Suzanne and Christopher Sharp talk about some of their
favourite collaborative experiences.
Which were the most important collaborations in
the early days?
Christopher: For me, the biggest moment of
elation was when the Marni rugs first arrived.
They were bold and simple with fabulous colours
and they felt so different - as if there had never
been a rug like that before. Classic designs always
look good but, by nature, they tend to be less
challenging and that’s why they last. We used
to tell customers to hang on to the Marni rugs
because they were so of their moment; that’s
often what ends up making something important.
Suzanne: The Swirl rug we did with Paul Smith was
incredible, but we did think how many people can
cope with this much colour? Then it turned into
our bestseller. The key was that because there was
so much colour, you could put it with anything
and whatever you’d done with the curtains,
cushions or sofa, there was some link back to the
rug - that’s what made it work. Also, sometimes
a sample would come in and Chris would say,
let’s see how it shoots. You’d do the shoot and
suddenly it would come to life. People have to try
rugs in their homes to understand what they do to
a room, as it’s kind of amazing. Having them
in-situ makes a big difference.
How did your relationships with the
craftspeople develop?
Christopher: We worked with four wonderful
Tibetan families, each who made a different type
of rug - they were all brilliant. There was one
weaver who was so passionate about production
and so we asked him to work with us. He said I
don’t know if I can but contact me in a month.
Sure enough, a month later, he said we could
start. When we saw him next, we asked what
had happened and he told us he’d gone into the
mountains to talk to his Lama. He said we had big
