A PRIMER IN LUXURY
By Gina Samarotto
Jan David Winitz, President and Founder of Claremont Rug Company, Talks to Private Air/Luxury Homes Magazine About How to Build Luxury from the Ground Up with Art-level Antique Rugs
A world-renowned expert in Oriental rugs, Jan David Winitz is perhaps the industry’s most well-respected ‘go to’ sources when it comes to exquisite, rare and infinitely coveted antique rugs. The President and Founder of Claremont Rug Company, Winitz sat down with us to discuss the finer points on how to choose the perfect rug to complement your home, lifestyle and personal style.

Adding a top-tier antique Oriental carpet to a modern environment, such as this circa 1860 Persian Ferahan Sarouk, can create a profoundly evocative atmosphere.
PALH: When most people think of antique Oriental rugs, they tend to envision styles are that are quintessentially traditional in feel. When their personal tastes run towards more modern, minimalistic design, how can they incorporate historically traditional elements into their contemporary space?
JDW: A surprisingly wide range of rug styles harmonize brilliantly with the clean, simple lines of modern architecture. Frankly, I haven’t yet met a décor that the appropriately selected antique rugs couldn’t enhance. My clients consistently find that the intricacy and color range of art-level Persian carpets and tribal rugs add a warmth and beauty to their contemporary homes and effectively unify the architecture, furnishings and art into a cohesive design aesthetic.
To enhance a modern decor, my favorites include geometric Oriental rugs with abstracted, highly stylized drawing. For instance, we recently furnished a large part of a massive cutting edge, steel and glass residence in Southern California with soaring ceilings and no traditional rooms. After a bit of exploration, the homeowners and I agreed on using 19th century Caucasian tribal rugs and larger Persian Bakshaish and Serapi carpets. Their bold, spaciously placed graphic patterns mirrored the grand scale of the environment and effectively delineated space. This was particularly important because this home has few walls where one would normally hang paintings.
Many other clients enjoy the counterbalance of the elemental quality of modern architecture and the softer flowing lines and complexity of elegant, floral Persian rugs, with 19th century Laver Kirmans being often chosen.

Left: A harmonious triad of 19th century Caucasian rugs compliments passageway of connoisseurs’ home. Right: A 19th century floral Laver Kirman rug, custom-crafted piano, and glass art ceiling light widen the creative spirit of this LEED-certificated home. (Design: Sherry Williamson) Below: This stunning ultra-modern home with its symphony of surfaces includes a luxurious, understated antique Persian Tehran carpet, circa 1900, contributing a quiet refinement to the space.
PALH: What type of rug would you recommend for newly built homes?
JDW: Geographical location is as important an influencer as architectural style in choosing which antique rugs to use. For instance, in sun-drenched beachfront homes, whether in Florida or New Zealand, our clients often opt for Persian rugs with lighter tones in colors reminiscent of the sea-and-sand or tropical fruit. The earthy browns, golds and taupes seen in some Hadji Jallili Tabriz, and the exotic warmer hues and aquas of rare ivory-ground Sultanabads are perennial favorites in this application. Rugs featuring expanses of undyed camel hair have always been a personal favorite that many clients are now discovering.
In Northern homes with darker woods, I go to the opposite end of the spectrum and recommend rugs with deep rich blues, reds and jewel tones, such as sapphire, emerald and garnet. Antique Persian Ferahan Sarouks, Bijars and Serapis lend naturally to these applications.

A newly constructed, traditionally designed Canadian home employs an antique Persian geometric Serapi carpet that effectively balances the strength of the architecture.

Oversize 150-year-old Hadji Jallili Tabriz carpet unifies Great Room in French ancestral home.
PALH: For clients who already collect paintings or sculpture, what guidelines do you have for incorporating antique rugs into their art collections? How would one go about creating a rug collection that complements rather than competes with other art collections in the home?
JDW: Every form of art can be augmented by one or several styles in the pantheon of antique carpets. Most art collectors have very distinctive taste, and with a bit of guidance, they soon discover the rugs that best complement it. As the aesthetic principles of balance and harmony are central in antique Oriental rugs, they naturally integrate well with other artforms rather than competing. I can quickly glean which rug styles will most effectively amplify my clients’ art collections by their complementary colors and pattern rhythm.
The myriad successful pairings we have done include a curvilinear Manchester Kashan rug with a Lichtenstein painting, angular Bakshaish rugs with Georgia O’Keefe and Rodin statuary, and a series of camelhair carpets with a Klee and a Diego Rivera. In each case, the pairing became more than the sum of its parts. Notably, runners in gallery hallways bring the same splendor and magic onto the floor as the canvases on the wall.

A luxurious palace-size circa 1900 Manchester Kashan was chosen to complement the Lichtenstein painting in this client’s living room.

Above left: Collectors of American contemporary art used Persian floral rugs as a contrast in scale to their largest pieces. (Design: Kimberly Hopper I.D.) Lower left: This sitting room with a circa 1875 Bakshaish Camelhair rug on the floor hints at the varied collections this client has assembled. Right: For this art collecting client, a passageway becomes a gallery that includes this seldom-seen extremely large circa 1875 Persian Afshar tribal rug.
For another client, richly toned, elaborately patterned Ferahan Sarouk rugs became the ideal juxtaposition for their important collection of early black and white photographs that line their walls. Floral rugs have been chosen to amplify an award-winning garden design, tribal rugs are often selected for spaces displaying aboriginal or ethnic art, and a Mohtasham Kashan to accompany a collection of antique stringed instruments.
PALH: How do you approach enhancing a traditional home with antique rugs?
JDW: Of course, this is the pairing we are all most accustomed to – antique carpets with crown moldings, coffered ceilings, and floors with magnificent inlay. This quintessential style of luxury is still in high demand. For this application, the intricate designs and rich tones of the numerous Persian floral styles continue to be favored.
For bedroom suites, traditionalists often use Laver Kirmans or Hadji Jallili Tabrizs for their soft palettes and botanical designs. The architectural-like grandeur of geometric Serapis has a long history of use in historical homes in New England and the South. We completely outfitted a classical Dallas home of a sophisticated art connoisseur with a significant collection of best-of-the-best antique Persian carpets that feature elaborate designs and heraldic medallions to echo the lines of her English antiques.

The stylized floral allover design of the late 19th century Sultanabad in this traditional living room contributes harmonious patterning, warmth, and an artistic base on the floor.

An early Tabriz from the Hadji Jallili workshop graces the light-filled home office of this elegant Tuscan-inspired home. (Design: Sue Firestone, Sue Firestone & Associates.)
PALH: How about homes with an Asian-influenced aesthetic?
JDW: Rugs with small repetitive designs or low contrast colors inimitably reflect the quiet mood of Asian decors, whether traditional or modern. Renowned for their petit point overall patterning, carpets such as Ferahan, Senneh, and Ziegler Sultanabad contribute a shimmering beauty to a space. These are “rhythm rugs” that provide melodic background music rather than a full-blown symphony. When viewed close up, they are absolutely mesmerizing.
Styles that offer low color contrast and employ understated palettes of generally delicate, softer hues ideal for Eastern decors are early Mohtasham Kashans, Ziegler Sultanabads, very old Bakshaishs, and Hadji Jallili Tabrizs. These styles may or may not have medallions, but their overall effect on an environment is gentle, ethereal, one of understated sophistication. The oldest of these rugs offer palettes that include utterly delicate hues so expertly dyed their tonal value is still intact after 150 years or more. Illumined by a glowing patina, they literally dance in the changing lights of day and imbue their surroundings with a magical ambiance.

A circa 1900 Mohtashan Kashan with a rare allover pattern and butternut-toned field completes the owner’s creation of a Zen atmosphere.

Left: A mellow wall color and use of a late 19th century Bakshaish camelhair carpet together create a quiet ambiance in this personal space. Right: The juxtaposition of an elemental circa 1900 Serab camelhair runner and Indonesian dervish statue capture the mood of another place and time.
PALH: How does one furnish a grand room?
JDW: One enormous space we furnished was a 45′ x 60′ living room in a Sierra Mountain family compound. We successfully segmented the room with a series of four room-size and oversize carpets. This format created intimate seating areas that magnified the scope of the space while instilling a gracious, connected ambiance. The key to making this approach successful is to choose rugs that each have their own individual characteristics, yet are compatible. Identifying a series of carpets that marry well takes a fair amount of expertise, and of course, the availability of an extensive inventory from which to choose.
The usage of palace-size carpets, 14′ x 20′ or larger, also has centuries of precedent. We have furnished many grand rooms with stunning carpets up to 17′ x 30′, which effectively unified the entire space and emphasized the grandeur of the room. This approach works best when there is a compelling reason to place all of the furniture entirely on the rug.

An 18′ x 24′ antique Persian Laver Kirman with an elegant allover pattern features softly striating tones that add a memorable ambiance to this sun-filled room.
PALH: Most people think of Oriental rugs as being appropriate for the public areas of a home. Why would someone who was not a carpet collector wish to use rugs throughout their residence?
JDW: Most clients begin by looking for three or four carpets for their main public areas, the living room, dining room, entry hall, and perhaps the library. Then, after experiencing the individuality and splendor that appropriately selected antique rugs bring to a space, they return to furnish the private areas of their homes.
Commonly, in the next residence that they open or in a second home that they maintain, they consider rugs for both public and private areas from the beginning. Some clients opt to assemble what we term a “Whole Home Display” of 15 or more large and small carpets. Over the years, we’ve developed a service where we work with clients’ floor plans, pictures of their other art and furnishings, and videos of their interior spaces to assist them in selecting multiple rugs. Although most clients opt to see rugs on approval, we can even photo-shop rugs into the rooms they wish to furnish to help them to envision the impact of each selection.
Using these tools, we work very closely with clients to make sure they choose rugs that are both entirely satisfying decoratively and are solid art investments.

As part of a Whole Home Display, a circa 1850 formal oversize carpet transforms this beautifully appointed master bedroom.

The family room in this Big Sky residence hosts an antique ivory Sultanabad, its casually drawn patterning and cheerful colors supporting the convivial mood of this space.
PALH: For those who are not yet familiar with the various types of antique rugs, their origins, etc. what have you done to assist them to become educated buyers?
JDW: For first-time buyers, I created a six-tier “Oriental Rug Market Pyramid” to present the spectrum of quality and artistry from contemporary reproduction rugs up to museum-level, historical rugs at the top. I have also written a “9-point Methodology for Evaluating Antique Oriental Carpets” that addresses the interconnected merits determining the artistic magnitude and value of an antique rug.
Many of our clients have told us that they previously knew little about antique carpets before they immersed themselves in our site. But after looking at the over 1000 rugs there and reading our profusion of educational material and video content, they knew exactly which styles they wanted when they contacted us.
In fact, one traveling executive called us one morning after staying up half the night in his hotel, studying our site to begin the process of selecting his rugs. Another time, a client on his way back home to New Zealand from Southern California diverted his private plane to visit our gallery because he saw carpets online that he wanted to bring home with him!

Winitz’s pyramid (above) has assisted many clients in demystifying the world of Oriental carpets. He developed his “9-point Methodology for Evaluating Antique Persian Rugs” in 1995 as a video for “ The American Architectural Review” on PBS.
Reposted for educational purposes only. Private Air Magazine retains sole ownership of this article.