Essence & Evolution Rug Collection by Cullman & Kravis with Crosby Street Studios
Crosby Street Studios is excited to announce the launch of the Essence & Evolution Collection from Cullman & Kravis, the renowned, New York-based interior design firm known for its approach to redefining timeless traditional interiors with a modern aesthetic.
We had a meeting of the minds with Crosby Street, and the result is a line of rugs for a wide variety of interiors and styles from traditional to ultra-contemporary.
With 20 hand-knotted designs that translate the archetypal language of pattern from floral to faux bois through a lens of abstraction, the new Essence & Evolution Collection from Cullman & Kravis debuts at What’s New What’s Next, the New York Design Center’s annual design industry salute, September 14, 2017. The introduction coincides with the release of From Classic to Contemporary: Decorating with Cullman & Kravis, C&K’s third book published by The Monacelli Press.
The genesis of the Essence & Evolution Collection, say Tony Mott, Jim McFadden, and Nicholas DiDonato, principals of Crosby Street Studios, begins with a shared passion for the depth and breadth of design history and its arc of progress through innovation, reinvention, and artisanship. This love of the decorative arts tradition reinterpreted for today drives the work of Cullman & Kravis partners Lee Cavanaugh and Alyssa Urban, who collaborated with the Crosby Street design team led by Design Director Liz Guarino to create the new collection.
“We’re excited to join forces with Crosby Street Studios on this collection, with its revolutionary approach to pattern, ornament, and materials and techniques,” observes Cullman &Kravis partner Lee Cavanaugh. Urban agrees, “We had a meeting of the minds with Crosby Street and the result is a line of rugs for a wide variety of interiors and styles from traditional to ultra-contemporary.”
The Essence & Evolution Collection runs the gamut from luxurious silks to metals, blended hand-spun Tibetan wool, and nettle in a color palette of beiges and greiges, spiced with a range of neutrals from pinks to teals to slates and charcoals. The rugs are dynamic and twenty-first century in spirit, but spring from the foundational principles of the decorative arts: proportion, color, scale, and harmony.
The designation of the collection—Essence and Evolution—also reflects Cullman & Kravis’s own path to the future. In recent years, the company has adopted a teamwork structure, with each executive helming her own group of professionals to support and encourage employee growth at all levels. This year, the venerable firm announced the appointment of Lee Cavanaugh, Sarah Ramsey, Claire Ratliff, and Alyssa Urban as partners. In homage to the success of Cullman & Kravis’s forward-looking structural realignment, every pattern in the collection bears the name of a trusted team member.
Interior photographs by Nick Johnson