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? The whole thing started in December 2014, when I was back from Shanghai and Flavia from Milano. We both used to say that one day we’d start something together here, in Romania. After a chat with our family, we realized that in Romania there are no handmade rugs made by local artists, only big companies. We both worked abroad as interior designers and proposed rugs as decorative objects to clients, so from the beginning we had a different perspective on rugs. Foreigners tend to see these kind of ethnic patterns as something contemporary, even if for us Romanians they tend to be more traditional.

Where does your inspiration come from? 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 our 10 patterns we are able to create custom designs for clients and customers.

What kind of materials do you use? We use wool from New Zealand, as it’s the best wool for this technique of creating hand-tufted rugs. There is no translation in Romanian for hand-tufted, but I remember finding an ad from the Communist period, a poster for a local rug factory from Transylvania, in which you could see the word “tufted” as a Romanian word.

How does the process work? You start by using a big canvas, drawing the pattern using a projector. Then you mark the color placement and using a special tool, you start inserting the wool, which is pre-colored.

Why did you start this business in Bucharest? It’s our home. When I left this country I knew I would return. Design in Romania is growing pretty fast right now and you see a lot of new initiatives in this field, which makes getting yourself heard quite easy. The market here in Bucharest is really eager for designers and new products, and you feel the enthusiasm for every new product that is created. In other cities like Milan or Shanghai, it’s quite hard to bring something new to the public. It feels really good to be here in Bucharest, in this moment when you see something valuable created by its citizens.

Who is the typical customer of your product? Usually our customers are young people ages 25 to 35 from Bucharest, young families that are starting a new life in a new house and willing to invest. They’re interested in the look and how this new space is going to make them feel, so in that case our rugs bring an emotional value to their homes. A lot of our customers ask for something fresh, colorful, and with a certain spirit.

What do people from Bucharest say about this business? One of the things that we tend to hear often, is that people were looking for a rug for a long time and couldn’t find something until they found us. Another thing is that we have succeeded in reinterpreting colors, bringing traditional patterns into a contemporary design.

How did people used to relate with rugs during Communist times? It’s actually really interesting as we were looking for a new space and the owners were trying to impose the use of rugs for sound insulation. This was an idea coming from the Communist era, when you were advised to use rugs to bring down the volume of noise.

I’m from a city where people tend to put their rugs on the walls. Do you find that common in Bucharest? People still tend to use rugs to decorate their walls in villages, but in Bucharest you don’t find rugs on the walls. You don’t even find them on the floor, hence our name, Dare to Rug. People in Bucharest nowadays are bored of rugs, because during the Communist times they had them everywhere, on the floor and on the walls. And we said, “No way, we’re going to bring back the rug!”

What is the added value of having a rug in a home? There are several roles that a rug has in your home, beginning with function. It feels good and comfortable when you step on it. It traps dust and allergens, as well as absorbing sounds. From an emotional perspective, it is an object of decor that can dictate the space. With a rug you can make a big impact on the design of a room.

Is there any specific pattern that comes from Bucharest? Yes, there is a pattern that comes from Muntenia, the area in which Bucharest is located.

What would you tell young designers who want to start their own new business?

Hold on to quality ideas and don’t be discouraged

by the market and by what people say. Usually you’ll

find that customers tend to impose their ideas, and here you should be confident in your professional beliefs and ideas. When creating product designs, always use quality materials. A product that is made with quality will tend to last and bring you a long-term reputation. ¢ daretorug.com

Children of the revolution

Our Bucharest correspondent Ioana describes growing up in post-revolution, post-Communist Romania: a childhood that was different, to say the very least.

Words & pictures by IOANA NEGULESCU

I was conceived in late December of 1989, when a great number of young Romanians gathered under the same goal: to put an end to Communism. Those young people marching on the roads of Bucharest and other cities in Romania were our parents. They were the ones who wanted a better future for their kids. I grew up in a Communist block, of which there were plenty in the neighborhood. I can still recall the smell of cold and wet air when you entered one of those blocks. I can still vividly remember watching people beating their carpets to remove the dust in the courtyard. That seemed to be some sort of tradition. I also remember my grandparents asking me to buy bread; with the rest of the money I had left, I would buy Turbo Gum. Ask any Bucharest-raised kid who grew up in the 90s about Turbo Gum, and you’ll see what an emotional value that chewing gum had. No matter that its taste would only last for two minutes! My parents were 23 and 25 when they had me. They were just starting their careers, and hence I spent most of my time with my grandparents. It was quite usual for people to get married right after or even during university. It seemed like back then, deciding to make babies depended neither on their career plans nor on the quality of life they would have.

Time to move on We moved to a house when I was 10. I met my neighbors and was lucky that they were the same age as I was. There was never any thought of using phones to call each other. When we wanted to meet, we would go to our friend’s house and shout out their name. Someone