This month, The Rug Company is introducing a new collection of eight rug designs, including two runners, created in collaboration with celebrated fashion designer Jonathan Saunders. A signature bright modernist palette has evolved for Jonathan Saunders's second collection with the unexpected addition of neutral tones: bone, clay and silver.
Renowned for his innovative use of print, pattern and colour, the Scottish designer has been exploring translucency and light and how new colours can be created through this process, working with transparent layers of glass and resin to create the composition of the final designs.
Saunders was born in Glasgow and attended the prestigious School of Art there, graduating with a BA in Printed Textiles. He then went on to study at Central Saint Martins' College of Art and Design and his graduate collection won Saunders the 2002 Lancome Colour Award. Almost as soon as he had finished his MA, Saunders was designing for Alexander McQueen, Chloe and Pucci.
For twelve years, Saunders ran his own eponymous design label, before closing it down in 2015 for "personal reasons". In 2016, he became chief creative officer at Diane von Furstenberg, and his Spring 2017 debut was a hit with the press—recognizably DVF but modernised. The collection’s on-the-bias, asymmetric dresses in clashing patchworks of prints were a sellout on the brand’s e-commerce site and frequently seen in fashion circles. After just a year at DVF, Saunders left the fashion house and returned to London, where he has worked on his rug collection with The Rug Company and his own furniture line, which will be coming out soon.
Blog post by Jessica Edney