My mother lives in the Southwest and has become very fond of its regional style—informed as it is by Spanish, Mexican and Native American aesthetics. She also likes the desert climes, high-altitude or low. I am different. Southwestern style has never been my favorite look, I think, because I associate it so strongly with the desert—which has always felt like a foreign environment to my nature. I'm a LEO—a cat—so my life-sustaining habitat needs trees, mountains and lots of fresh water (not salty). My idea of heaven is a placid, freshwater lake, surrounded by evergreen woods and steep mountain cliffs. I come-alive in an Alpine-ish setting (whether in Hawaii, the Northeast or Northern Italy). Deep green leaves. Rich, black earth. Punctuate that with a ceiling of Heavenly Blue and fluffy white. I fully-understand others' attraction to the desert. T. E. Lawrence loved the desert because (he perceived) "it is clean." I know that the desert teems with life (even if you have to look hard to find it). And, I must admit, some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever witnessed have been in the high desert of New Mexico ("The Land of Enchantment").
So, after all the above, I ask you temporarily to place my regional preferences to the side.
The moment I encountered this Navajo wool rug, shown above, I knew I had to have it! The bold black, white and red graphics are the very opposite of the dusty pastels which I associate (fairly or not) with the desert Southwest. The jagged pattern—crackling with energy—feels "balanced" to me. The arrangement of the white graphic elements has been evenly spread-out, corner to corner, without appearing "bunched-up" in one area. And the red is satisfyingly deep, rich and sophisticated. To my eye, all the aesthetic elements of this rug come-together perfectly to create a handsome, masterful work of handcraft. The rug currently is displayed before a mantelpiece of deep-red West German Modernist ceramics: red vases with crusty black lava "flowing" down their sides.
I am in no rush to part with this handsome Navajo rug. However, if you'd like to learn more about it, please click on the photo above.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.