DESIGN
Contemporary design meets Romanian tradition Dare to Rug reinvents traditional Romanian folk patterns in their handmade rugs. Founders Andreea Batros and Flavia Scînteanu share the story of their homegrown brand. Words by MIHAI SURDU Pictures by THE FAB SQUAD
How did Dare to Rug start?
our 10 patterns we are able to create custom designs for
The whole thing started in December 2014, when I was
clients and customers.
back from Shanghai and Flavia from Milano. We both used to say that one day we’d start something together
What kind of materials do you use?
here, in Romania.
We use wool from New Zealand, as it’s the best wool for
After a chat with our family, we realized that in Romania
this technique of creating hand-tufted rugs. There is no
there are no handmade rugs made by local artists, only
translation in Romanian for hand-tufted, but I remember
big companies. We both worked abroad as interior
finding an ad from the Communist period, a poster for a
designers and proposed rugs as decorative objects
local rug factory from Transylvania, in which you could
to clients, so from the beginning we had a different
see the word “tufted” as a Romanian word.
perspective on rugs. Foreigners tend to see these kind of ethnic patterns as
How does the process work?
something contemporary, even if for us Romanians
You start by using a big canvas, drawing the pattern
they tend to be more traditional.
using a projector. Then you mark the color placement and using a special tool, you start inserting the wool,
Where does your inspiration come from?
which is pre-colored.
Each rug is inspired by a historic province of Romania, of which we have 10. So we have 10 types of designs, each inspired by a specific zone. Inspiration comes from different sources: sometimes historical rug designs or from architectural elements from those specific areas. The main direction was pattern. We didn’t want to reinterpret the old rugs. We analyzed decorative elements that you can find on folk costumes. The symbols and patterns are timeless, as they’re like ballads, inspired by daily life, by things that surrounded those people, such as a church or village. In addition to
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