Andre Mellone’s New Rug Collection Takes Influence from Art Deco and Bauhaus

Studio Mellone founder Andre Mellone cultivates warm and richly layered interiors around the globe that reverberate with their intoxicating palettes of sumptuous shades of terracotta, ochre, and moss balanced with calming notes of black, white, and cream. His fashion-forward private residences, retail spaces, and gallery settings have quickly elevated his status as the designer to call for a decadent room awash in warm woods, cultural touchstones, and textures impossible to resist.

Now, the Brazilian designer based in New York is lending his distinct aesthetic to a new four-piece collection of rugs with esteemed purveyor Nordic Knots. Each style captures Mellone’s signature color choices while creating art underfoot with geometric patterns that trace influence to both the Art Deco and Bauhaus movements, as well as the bold rug designs of Brazilian talent Ivan da Silva Bruhns.

“I wasn’t too self-aware of the challenges of geometrics. The patterns we developed we had been playing with for a long time; there was a familiarity to it,” says Mellone, who says he often starts an interior’s design with the rug and then builds upon it. “The design intensity was a result of using common sense—what would be a rug we would love to have for ourselves in a geometric pattern.”

Included in the assortment—Nordic Knots first product collaboration—is Pond, a hand-knotted New Zealand wool design that features a linear pattern evocative of a topographical map. Normandie commands attention with its stunning weave of red, black, white, and tan stripes. Terracotta pays homage to the look of South American modernism, while Dots balances a playful print with disciplined reserve.

“In our view, nothing beats a good wool rug,” suggest Mellone. “It is the most durable and beautiful, and in terms of texture, as one can see in our collection, wool can be looped and tied in different ways, and sheared to different pile heights, creating super interesting variations.”

Made by hand in small batches, each design marries perfectly with the ambience of earthy shades favored by Studio Mellone. “The colors were also part of the things we have been familiar with and loved for a while,” he says. “We’ve designed unique custom rugs for our private clients in similar, if not the same, colors. The palette of ochres, salmon, grays, and black were tried and true.”

Whether as a grounding element that “exists between decoration and architecture,” as Mellone says, or a heady accoutrement, the collection is sure to add warmth and wonder to any atmosphere.