4 leading international designers share their vision on using bespoke rugs and textile surfaces in architectural projects.
We interviewed four leading figures in international interior design and architecture about the role of textile surfaces in architectural projects, the challenges they face, and their visions for the coming years.
In contemporary design, the rug has long stopped being a simple furnishing accessory. In recent years it has become a testing ground for new materials and techniques, entered the language of collectible design, and moved ever closer to the world of art — emerging as a new voice within the architecture itself. To understand how bespoke rugs and designer rugs find their place in today’s architectural projects, we spoke with four protagonists of international interior design: leading studios and interior designers whose work spans continents, climates, and design languages. Their answers move between craftsmanship, material and stylistic research, and the quiet weight a single textile surface can carry in a finished space – offering a shared, if varied, vision of where textile design is heading in the years ahead.
We speak with 4 leading voices in interior design and architecture from around the world about the challenges of integrating textile surfaces and bespoke rugs in architectural projects, their visions and choices for the upcoming years.
In large-scale residential projects, how do you decide when a rug should be the hero of the space, and when it should be a quiet, structural element?
When selecting a rug for a large space, the same rules apply as in any good art – whether it’s theater, literature, or cinema. It is always about dramatic tension or playing with contrasts. If an interior is already rich in complex, active architectural textures, such as bold stone patterns or detailed woodwork, the rug should act as a structural foundation, quietly and elegantly tying all the elements together. Conversely, in a minimalist or monochrome space, a custom rug with a unique yarn composition takes center stage, becoming a true art object and the main hero of the room.
You work closely with unique gallery-design pieces. What elevates a rug to the status of art, and do you expect this trend to grow in the textile world next year?
This trend will undoubtedly continue to grow. Our clients are looking for unique, bespoke pieces that reflect their individuality and tastes. What elevates a rug to the status of art is the perfect synergy of complex, visionary design, meticulous craftsmanship, and the use of innovative, premium materials. A true gallery-level rug carries an emotional weight and a tactile richness that can instantly transform the entire atmosphere of a room.
We have collaborated with you to develop custom colors and unique pieces for specific projects. What does this collaboration look like: where does your vision as a designer end, and our textile expertise begin?
Not so long ago, I would have answered this way: our team sets the overall concept, the geometry, and the exact palette, and GTDESIGN takes the baton, translating our ideas into the right yarn, the desired tactility, and the agreed budget. However, over years of collaborating on complex international projects, we have immersed ourselves so deeply in each other’s processes that this boundary has thinned and eventually disappeared. At some point, we tried to find the line where design ends and production begins, and we realized one important thing: it no longer exists. This realization led us to entirely new territory.
Anna Bakhmetova is the Head and Co-Founder of Interior Pro Plus, a leading international interior design and procurement agency headquartered in Slovenia, founded alongside her partner and close colleague, Olesya Sitnikova. Having received their specialized education at the prestigious IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) in Milan, both founders bring a profound understanding of Italian design heritage and European craftsmanship to their work. Specializing in large-scale residential and commercial projects across Europe and the Middle East, Anna Bakhmetova is an expert with over 20 years of experience in sourcing unique luxury pieces and developing custom textile solutions. With a deep passion for architectural textiles, she weaves together visionary interior concepts with their flawless technical execution.
In your experience, what makes a textile surface like a rug truly transformative in an interior design project?
You have created or furnished a space, and somehow something is missing. Then, you add the carefully chosen GTDESIGN rug, and suddenly the atmosphere shifts to a new level. I would call it the individual, magical glow that each rug possesses – it is the final spark that brings the interior, your project, to life.
When integrating rugs into a project, what are the key qualities you look for in terms of materials, craft and design language?
It comes down to the absolute perfection in the combination of texture and color, and of course the handcraftsmanship that adds the final touch, making each rug a unique piece. A plain color is never just a solid color — depth and softness open up a whole spectrum of hues that captivate you in a subtle, unobtrusive way, through gentle tones and textures. This is why I love using GTDESIGN rugs in my projects: without making much noise, I can place them effortlessly in so many different spaces. Having worked with GTDESIGN for over ten years, and having had the privilege of getting to know Deanna Comellini and discussing her ideas and designs, I know how much thought — how much thought — goes into choosing even a single color. I believe the immense sum of all these considerations becomes so tangible and visible that it creates the magic.
How do your clients respond when a carefully selected rug is finally placed in a completed space?
My clients often walk past the window of my showroom, and I see them stop abruptly and move closer to admire the rugs – they truly captivate the senses. When that same client later orders a rug and we bring it to its new home, unrolling it in place… the effect is simply breathtaking. It’s a real “wow” moment.
Sonja Mekadmi is an interior designer whose passion for the craft was shaped by her time living in Milan, Paris, Marrakech, London and Munich — cities whose diverse, culturally rich design scenes have left a lasting impression on her. At her exclusive studio in Wiesbaden, Sonja Mekadmi welcomes clients with an open, warm demeanor, offering advice that inspires, motivates and encourages them to create something unique and personal out of every space.
Studio CLL takes on complex architectural projects. How do G.T.DESIGN pieces enhance your spatial narratives?
Whenever we get the opportunity to complete an architectural space with interiors we do so, with a cohesive atmosphere in mind. Over the year, G.T.DESIGN has added a stunning and soothing layer, in line with our philosophy, that so often is inspired by the environment and surrounding colors and textures of nature and the natural contexts, throughout time and seasons.
As specialists in light design, how does your textile selection interact with lighting?
Years ago, when first learning about G.T.DESIGN we had received samples of your KAMA collection, soft to the touch and offering varied sheen when passing through the fiber, leaving a trace from the interaction of touch and movement. The varied interaction of light and fiber often leaves an inviting and lush impression of past time present.
Which GTDESIGN collections intrigues you most, and in what architectural context would you envision using them?
Over the years, we had the opportunity to introduce varied collections to the projects in their varied locations; from high Mountain elevations with their intense seasonal, color and climate changes, to the Desert Lands asking for indoor outdoor living on the earth or the tropical humidity. The strength of the Coconut Rug series serving heavy duty use of winter boots or brushing off gravel or dirt has offered a great landing zone at several of the above mentioned locations. Personal favorites include, the painted wool flat weave of the Luoghi, the Passo Doppio and In Canto and while we have loved seeing the Paglietta and Coconut rug in varied projects before, we look forward to seeing Paglietta Cotta and O Sole Mio moving forward with a large scale home located in the North East.
Claudia Kappl-Joy holds a Master’s in Architecture from TU Graz, Austria, and a Master’s in Architectural Lighting Design from KTH Stockholm, Sweden. She worked in Austria, Sweden and the UK as an architect and architectural lighting designer before settling in Tucson, Arizona in 2007.
She’s co-founder, creative director and managing director of CLL Concept Lighting Lab, an architectural lighting design studio focused on conceptual lighting solutions — for architecture and landscape alike — that feel integral to a project’s language, from boutique residential work to commercial and hospitality projects across the U.S. and beyond. A Certified Lighting Designer (CLD), Claudia is also a member of Women in Lighting (WIL), the IALD and the IES, and lectures at CAPLA in addition to leading workshops and juries at design schools.Claudia is fascinated by the ephemeral quality of light and its interplay with space, and is on a continuous quest to create atmosphere.
With your many years of experience in interior architecture, how important is research into new trends and materials in the field of textile decoration? and how do you assess Italian companies that specialise in this niche market?
Research is fundamental – but I don’t mean only material research. I mean researching what’s really behind each product: its intent, its inspiration, what makes one piece different from another. It’s a question of identity. Research means finding the pieces and materials that make a space singular rather than a repetition of another. We’re not interested in following trends in their most superficial sense, but in understanding what we’re really looking for, what defines us in this era and in the way we live. That’s the place from which we accompany every project, helping each client define their own way of inhabiting a space. But materially defining that identity only holds if there’s technical rigor behind it: without it, the sensory dimension of a product stays visual, stays a photograph. It’s the technical execution that lets that identity be touched, used, and lived in. And that’s where Italian design stands out: few industries sustain the technical, the material, and the sensory at once with that level of coherence.
How important is it for you to establish a creative dialogue with your suppliers? Could you share some examples?
It’s essential, because it’s what allows every project to be singular. Naturally we gravitate toward brands whose products already work well on their own – that’s the baseline. But having the freedom to sit with a client and propose something, knowing your supplier will find a way to solve it, is invaluable. That’s what builds a different kind of relationship: it stops being a commercial transaction and becomes a shared creative goal.
In your role as brand ambassador for GTDESIGN, what do you consider to be the key strengths that best define and distinguish the Italian brand?
What defines GTDESIGN isn’t just the product, it’s the idea behind it and the care put into every piece. There’s a family behind the brand, and it shows: in how they think through each design, in the time they give to something that could be resolved faster and more generically, but they don’t take that route. I use GTDESIGN in projects where the client genuinely values that kind of detail – things that aren’t visible at a first glance but that define a space in a subtle way. That’s exactly the kind of quiet luxury I believe in: not what shouts, but what holds up under a closer look.
Julia Garay is an Argentine interior designer based in Uruguay, where she has lived for around fifteen years. She studied architecture before moving away from her hometown, and after relocating to Uruguay, life steered her toward interior design. She began by selling furniture, then struck out on her own with a concept store, gradually merging two worlds – retail and interior design. That path led her to found Monoccino, a hub that brings together interior design, special furniture design, art, and architecture.
