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Long before editor and designer Tom Delavan was tasked with creating Archival, his new Beni Rugs collection, he found himself in a sea of overlapping Moroccan rugs on an upstate New York porch.
You could say the seed for his 16-piece capsule was planted on that photo shoot for Domino (yes, this Domino!) while he was an editor at the magazine in the late 2000s. He was amazed by the intensity and power with which they transformed the space, and the scene brought to mind another time when rugs had made the same impact on him: an Italian Vogue editor’s apartment in 1980s Milan, where all the furniture was slipcovered in white but the rugs were layered and vibrant.
And in recent years, while designing a room with grisaille scenic wallpaper for clients, Delavan wanted to add color into the mix. He settled on Tulu rugs, which have been woven in Turkey for more than 100 years. Drawn to the presence of the artist’s hand in those pieces, as well as the plushness reminiscent of Flokatis from his ’70s youth, he became enamored with the style.
These experiences led Delavan, now the design director at The New York Times’s T Magazine, to working with Tiberio Lobo-Navia and Robert Wright of Beni, the young Moroccan rug brand known for supportive working conditions for its weavers.
The richly hued, high-pile rugs may seem like a departure from the black and white aesthetic Delavan is known for, but he insists they add a layer of drama to all kinds of interiors. “I originally thought of these rugs in a dark room where they would be the color that pops against the moody background,” he explains. “But when we shot it, Colin [King, Beni’s artistic director] made them look so great in my almost all-white living room.”
The collection not only marks Delavan’s first collaboration with a brand, but Beni’s first foray into shag rugs. Inspired by the aforementioned Tulus—known for their delightfully crazy color combinations and bold patterns such as loose, geometric zigzags—Delavan’s designs are made in Morocco like the rest of Beni’s stock. One especially standout (and extra-shaggy) one is a Josef Albers–esque Siroua rug, the wool for which Beni sourced from Siroua sheep, a Moroccan long-hair breed that can yield a plush 4-inch pile.
“Starting on the floor is a great way to give an otherwise monochromatic interior a little zing,” states Delavan. And as far as we’re concerned, with a rug from this collection, the rest of the room will take care of itself.
