Inspired by their extensive travels in Europe and Asia, Camilla and Leo Riviere founded Riviere Rugs in 2005. Since the beginning, the idea behind the company has been to combine fine craftsmanship and creativity, and produce original rugs that will last for generations.
Riviere’s beloved designs and timeless colour palette are based on the couple’s background in art and design, and their thorough understanding and appreciation of classical and modern architecture, as well as paintings and interiors. Focusing on sustainable design, they work closely with their workshop in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal to create custom designed, exquisite handcrafted rugs for both contemporary and traditional schemes.
Proud to be part of a highly skilled artisan tradition in an increasingly mass-produced world dominated by synthetic materials, Riviere’s rugs stand-out as a natural and truly unique alternative (no project is ever the same).
Riviere’s beloved designs and timeless colour palette are based on the couple’s background in art and design
Each rug is produced using age-old techniques passed down through generations: from the dying of the yarns to the highly labour-intensive weaving process, the entire crafting of the rug is carried out by hand. Using only the finest natural materials and raw fibres, such as hand carded Tibetan wool from sheep reared in the nearby Himalayas, alongside pure hand spun silk and biodegradable botanic silk, each rug has a low impact on the environment. Wool is one of the most eco-friendly fibres of all, completely renewable, with little impact on the planet throughout its production process.
The rugs are hand woven with a minimum of 100 knots per square inch (there is also a wide range of other knot counts), using intricate techniques that create sumptuous textural layers and depth of colour. Each design can be fully customised with a choice of colour, size, shape and materials.
In addition, the company provides a colour matching service, with an extensive library of more than 2,000 colour poms at its Lots Road showroom in the heart of London’s Chelsea Design Quarter.
Working closely with leading interior design practices worldwide, Riviere also offers a fully bespoke design service and a range of alternative materials that can be used for the rugs. This service gives the industry the scope to create one-off pieces for their clients suiting a wide range of budgets and lead-times.
More recently, Riviere was proud to launch renowned interiors brand Zoffany’s inaugural rug collection. The fabric and wallpaper brand is a firm favourite of Camilla and Leo, who have worked with Zoffany on numerous design shoots, so creating a range together seemed like an obvious next step. Given exclusive access to Zoffany’s archives, they selected designs to be carefully translated from fabric or wallpaper into rugs, taking in account composition, scale, and colour. After a fantastic initial response, the Jigsaw design, which has a low loop knot blended silk and wool base in distinctive abstract forms, has proved to be the runaway favourite.
Like the rest of the Riviere collections, these are unique pieces of floor art, designed as timeless heirlooms to be treasured for years to come.
Riviere 46 Lots Road, London, SW10 0QF
+44 (0)20 3601 4600
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