Above, the John Pawson × ELTE collection, installed at Pawson’s own estate, includes the ‘JP Barn’ rug
Minimalist architect John Pawson’s new line of rugs for Elte began at home – literally. ‘He felt the most meaningful collection would be one designed for his own home first, and only then made available to others,’ recalls Jamie Metrick, fourth-generation owner and rug buyer at the Toronto-based design brand.
That personal mandate led to a painstaking process, which first kicked off in 2023 at Pawson’s Cotswolds estate, Home Farm. ‘Because every rug had to be something he genuinely wanted to live with, we went through many more iterations,’ Metrick explains. ‘It took longer, but I think that made the collection much stronger in the end.’
Now, that partnership has culminated in a 16-piece collection, ‘John Pawson × ELTE’, extending beyond the walls of the architect’s 17th-century compound of stone barns and farmhouses. Featuring four designs (‘Barn’, ‘Stables’, ‘Link’ and ‘Loft’) each available in four colourways, all of the handcrafted designs draw on the property’s palette of elmwood, stone and lime-plaster walls.
‘Each of the rugs was designed for a specific space at Home Farm, in terms of colour, texture and construction,’ Pawson says. ‘Each piece tells a narrative of what it is to be at home in a place.’
The difficult part was turning his ideas into something tactile. ‘The key challenge was to find the most appropriate techniques for translating each of the design ideas into physical form – for making the transition from paper to the mediums of hand-knotted vintage wool and hemp,’ Pawson adds. ‘For this we relied on the consummate skill and meticulous attention to detail of Elte’s artisans.’
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The resulting rugs make an outsized impact through repeating geometries and soothing shades, like green-gray moss, sand and chalk. ‘Barn’, ‘Loft’ and ‘Stables’ all feature subtle, grounding grids that turn Pawson’s sense of place into tactile form, while ‘Link’ comes with a uniform, nubby surface. They’re all available in four standard sizes, but Elte also offers customised dimensions.
‘I have always preferred to design with a specific place in mind,’ continues Pawson, who never doubted that the designs could resonate beyond Home Farm. ‘If you immerse yourself in the particular, the outcome will be something that feels right and resonant in other contexts.’ Perhaps that’s because Pawson takes a holistic approach that incorporates not just form and function but also intangible aspects. ‘I like to think about its spatial impact and its capacity to generate atmosphere.’
For Pawson, seeing such personal pieces venture beyond his own estate brings the project full circle. ‘It is a particular pleasure to see these pieces that are intimately connected to my own home being brought to a wider audience.’
