rugs designed by eric hildebrandt
TEMPLE rugs activate a space. They command attention and elicit emotions. The designs start from the smallest artistic gesture – a graphic glitch, a smudge on glass or the edge of a sculpture. The textural quality of the pile heights, carving and shapes are central to the aesthetic approach and the visual and tactile experience of the rugs. Each rug is densely hand-knotted using the highest-quality natural materials, such as wool, silk and alpaca. The quality is crafted by centuries of knowledge and skilled hands in Nepal. They truly are LANDSCAPES FOR LIVING.
Beginning as a pen and ink drawing, GRAFFITO is a densely hand-knotted field of scribbles, marks and boxes, each sitting below the higher pile as if carved and scratched directly into the wool. While there is no pattern or regular repeat in the design – there are no two marks the same – the allover effect is one of an energetic yet cohesive whole. Fringe in the secondary color of the design, while passionately recommended, is optional.
SALT POINT began as a series of photographs of an otherworldly beach in Northern California. The rock formations at the Salt Point beach are unlike any others along the coast and the inspiration there is unending. Craters, cracks, large planes of sandy rocks and sculptural formations from the mind of Antoni Gaudí. To walk on Salt Point is to luxuriate in some the best materials in nature: wool and silk; salt, stone and tide.
The colorways of PASSAGES are named for the various routes of exploration and passage humans have traveled across the globe and between worlds. Pictured here is Queen Mary. The mid-twentieth century ocean liner named for Mary of Teck, the consort of King George V. Perhaps the most iconic of leisure cruises, there is no doubt that the Queen Mary hosted more than a few secret lovers enjoying the short-lived freedoms from their more mundane lives on land.
RIVER & RAVINE is pure Northern California. The design originated from a wire and plaster sculpture, spray-painted and gashed with a pocket knife. From there it evolved into a meditation on the local environment and natural events expressed through wool and silk. The resulting rug borrows heavily from the landscapes around the region: dry and flooded rivers, setting sun on the Pacific, golden hills and dark, deep foggy valleys — and swaths of land too often destroyed by wildfires.
