Macclesfield furniture retailer Arighi Bianchi has become the first retailer in the UK to offer The Rug Box by The Woven Edge, a new made-to-measure rug collection giving customers the freedom to choose bespoke sizes and shapes.
The collection allows customers to specify the dimensions and shape of their rug rather than being restricted to conventional off-the-shelf formats, with selected designs available up to 5m wide and to the length required.
The launch comes as shaped and bespoke rugs are emerging as an interiors trend, says the retailer, driven in part by the popularity of curved furniture, open-plan living and homes where standard rectangular rugs don’t always work.
“What’s exciting about this for us isn’t simply being able to offer a rug in a different size,” says Arighi Bianchi's flooring and rug expert, Steve Smith. "It’s the freedom it gives you to start with the room rather than the product.
“We spend a lot of time considering the proportions of sofas, dining tables, kitchen islands and other major pieces of furniture. It makes sense to give the same consideration to the rug that connects them.
“Instead of asking ‘which rug will fit?’, we’re encouraging people to ask a much more interesting question: ‘What rug does my room actually need?’"
According to Steve, considering the shape of a rug – not simply its colour, pattern or size – can completely change how a room comes together.
“We’re so accustomed to seeing rectangular or round rugs that most of us don’t even consider whether that shape is actually right for the room,” he explains. "We choose from the sizes and shapes we’re presented with and then try to make them work.
“But turn that thinking around. Look at the architecture, the furniture and how you move through the room first. What shape does that arrangement naturally create? Your rug can then work with those lines rather than being an arbitrary rectangle placed underneath them.”
Curves have become increasingly prominent in interiors, appearing in everything from sofas and armchairs to coffee tables, kitchen islands and architectural details.
Steve believes rugs are a natural place to continue those softer lines.
“If you’ve chosen a beautiful curved sofa and a rounded coffee table, putting a rigid rectangular rug underneath them can sometimes work against what you’re trying to achieve,” he explains.
“An organic shaped or oval and curved rug can echo the furniture and make the entire arrangement feel much more considered. Equally, if a room is dominated by straight architectural lines, introducing a softer rug shape can provide contrast and stop it feeling too rigid.
“Rectangular rugs are absolutely right for lots of spaces, especially if you follow the tried-and-tested rug rules about where to place a rug in relation to your furniture. The difference is choosing a rectangle because it works – rather than because that’s simply what rugs traditionally look like.”
