The Edgy Detail We’re Spotting on the Best New Rugs Makes Them Borderline Art

If you don’t think Frank Lloyd Wright, Viennese Art Deco, and children’s books have anything in common, hear us out. Take a look at the crop of rugs that has been released this spring and you’ll see that, while they take their inspiration from these disparate sources, it’s all been channeled into a specific element they have in common: borders. New collections from Athena Calderone, Cold Picnic, Josh Greene, Brigette Romanek, and more are putting their all into their rugs’ edges, creating definition with everything from graphic motifs inspired by architecture and cinema to the play of two-tone color. 

We’re all for it: If your sofa or bed goes atop, why not let the edges shine? Here’s an introduction to each, and our top picks among them. 

Athena Calderone x Beni Rugs Salon Collection

There is much to love about Athena Calderone’s latest collaboration with Beni Rugs, the extremely chic New York– and Morocco-based rug brand from Robert Wright and Tiberio Lobo-Navia. Titled Salon, the genesis of these 13 new designs can be charted back to when Calderone first stepped into her new Tribeca home: “[In] this apartment, the datum line of the wood, the Art Deco [details], it inspired me to go dark, moody, more sophisticated, and also more restrained.” She channeled that new point of view, as well as time spent in Vienna, Milan, and Paris, into unique shapes, grids, and lines. Intriguing borders abound here, as Calderone values an edge just as much as the center. The collection also formally introduces a new low-pile style for Beni, a shorter knotted weave with an average 3/4-inch pile. 

Something to love about the group is that almost every piece has a reference point, the kind of specificity that spurs you to hunt down the origin and see it for yourself. For example, the Fassade design, she tells Domino, was inspired by the facade of a building featured in a book by Austrian architect and designer Josef Hoffmann. The walls of Vienna’s Albertina Museum gave the Deco rug its silvery blue hue. You might see a Parisian window frame in the Freunde. 

Cold Picnic Audience/Embrace Collection

The most esoteric of the bunch, Cold Picnic’s Audience/Embrace line debuts rugs and runners with two distinct perspectives—being watched and being held. Drawing inspiration from folklore, children’s books, and cinema, the team created a recurring eye pattern for the Audience design and an outstretched arm motif for Embrace. Made with 100 percent TEX New Zealand wool with a 100 percent cotton backing, each is sheared by hand to achieve an ever-so-sculptural look. It’s giving House vibes in the best way. 

There are two other launches from Cold Picnic that have us excited. One is the company’s first washable line, four variations inspired by writer MFK Fisher’s book How to Cook a Wolf; they’re made to be used in high-traffic places like kitchens, bathrooms, and patios. The other is from the brand’s collaboration with the Brooklyn Museum, a random sheared take on Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige’s historical prints of cherry blossoms.

Josh Greene x Marc Phillips Rugs Arcadia Collection

If you’re not familiar with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes, imagine low-slung architecture complemented by local materials, extraordinary light, and the presence of nature. Josh Greene celebrates all that and more with his collection, Arcadia, developed in partnership with Marc Phillips Rugs. 

The six hand-knotted, sun-washed wool designs take cues from these buildings, and two in particular present a strong border: the Gordon and the Kinney, which are reminiscent of the carved stone in some of Wright’s houses. The rest of the collection keeps geometry at the forefront, and we’re particularly fond of the Duncan’s multihued grid. 

Block Shop Trellis and Ripple Rugs

Block Shop is no stranger to the rug game, and we always perk up if it has something new to show us. After it made a version for its Los Angeles shop, the Trellis rug became the brand’s most requested style to date—so it decided to go all in. The 100 percent jute stunner is a flat-weave with a textured pattern, and sizing is small to showstopping. The Ripple rug is a jute-wool blend that keeps the border trend going. The cheerful yet not-childlike wiggly edge comes in two color options, one more neutral and the other with a bit more ochre-hued pizzazz. 

Both styles are made by V-Weave, an ethically operated, family-run weaving cooperative in India that uses traditional Indian materials like hand-spun Himalayan wool, Bengali jute, and Gujarati cotton.

Arvin Olano x Rugs USA

Rugs USA has made a run recently, working with interior designers like Emily Henderson and Lauren Leiss, not to mention fashion designer Prabal Gurung. One of its latest collaborators is Arvin Olano, who has made a name for himself as a content creator focused on approachable design. Among the 22 rugs he has debuted with the brand, the designs with borders are the true standouts. 

Our favorites: the two-tone Gino, a 100 percent wool number, and the sumptuous Petra, which has a stamped-like quality. They’re both flat-weaves and handmade in India.

Brigette Romanek × Loloi Orly Rug

Of all the designs from Brigette Romanek’s spring collection for Loloi—each is named for a female friend or family member—the ribbed Orly is the only one with a border, and it happens to be our favorite. “I gravitate toward rugs that are versatile and add dimension and warmth to a space,” Romanek tells Domino. And the Orly does just that. 

The heathered colorways, which range from natural to ink (we’re fans of the clay), and textures are meant to mimic the veining in stone. The subtly depressed detail around the edge adds just the right amount of visual definition. Made with wool and viscose, they’re hand-loomed and GoodWeave certified.