WOVEN CONCEPTS' ODYSSEY COLLECTION AT WESTEDGE DESIGN FAIR  Halleh Hakimian of New York-based Woven Concepts said the innovative designs and textures of the Odyssey collection attracted designers and consumers attending the WestEdge Design Fair. |
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Third-time exhibitor Woven Concepts stood out from the crowd of high end exhibitors at the 2016 WestEdge Design Fair in Santa Monica with its award-winning wool and silk Odyssey collection.
Inspired by NASA imagery, with designs named after astronauts and colors named after constellations, the collection is hand-knotted in India of distressed wool and reclaimed natural silk with hand carving and oxidation that creates a unique three-level surface texture.
Woven Concepts brought Haise/Pluto, Glenn/Hydra and Cooper/Vega rugs to West Edge to represent the Odyssey collection, which was named Best in Flooring at the 2016 Architectural Digest Design Show in New York (
read more).
From the Odyssey collection by Woven Concepts, the Haise/Pluto rug (above) represents the dwarf planet's rock and ice surface with three dimensions of texture (closeup below).
At the show Woven Concepts' Halleh Hakimian told RugNews.com: "This collection is for a very cosmopolitan market, and for a cosmopolitan client. It is very interesting: We have people in their twenties purchasing these rugs, and people in their eighties purchasing these rugs. But they all gravitate toward something unusual, and they are not afraid of color or boldness. It's not a conservative collection."
The Glenn/Hydra rug by Woven Concepts uses three levels of texture to evoke a celestial landscape (above) using hand-carving and oxidized wool for visual and tactile dimension.
In comparing Woven Concepts to other designer rug brands, Hakimian said, "What makes us special and stand out are our textures. We have spent a lot of time perfecting our textures and we like to celebrate color. We are not the kind of rugs that are muted, invisible, or dead. We celebrate color and we've been doing it for the past couple of years now. I think we were ahead of the trend, but now I think the trend is ready for it."
The Cooper/Vega rug from Woven Concepts illustrates the Odyssey collection's unique combination of a vintage textural effect with contemporary colors and patterns. .
Asked why the Long Island, New York-based company continues to be a part of the WestEdge Design Fair each year, Hakimian said, "We come to WestEdge because it has a good energy and we are passionate about what we do. We get a really wonderful response, so that is what brings us back."