Hand-Knotted Wool Poseidon Rug by Elizabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti

A whimsical and highly graphic wool rug titled Poseidon and designed by Garouste & Bonetti, its field framed by an animated border of coral-like forms in shades of turquoise, sea green, and deep teal. The playful organic motifs seem to drift and unfurl across the surface, evoking marine vegetation or abstracted sea life, while the vivid cerulean outer border lends the composition a distinctly Mediterranean spirit.

The softly neutral center provides a calm visual counterpoint to the exuberant perimeter, allowing the sculptural quality of the hand-tufted design to emerge with unusual clarity. Characteristic of the duo’s celebrated postmodern vocabulary, the rug balances fantasy and sophistication with an instinctive sense of movement and color.

A striking and highly collectible example of late 20th-century French decorative design, equally compelling in restrained interiors or richly layered rooms.

literature: Elizabeth Garouste & Mattia Bonetti: 1981-2001, Vedrenne, ppg. 24, 25, 28

Élizabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti began their illustrious partnership in 1981, designing furniture and lighting on the forefront of a new romanticism that celebrated whimsy, absurdity and luxury. Working from the basis that “good taste bothers [them],” Garouste and Bonetti returned to and re-imaged design that was highly decorative. They infused this extravagance with the wit and irony of self-awareness, bridging the sensibilities of the early and late 20th century.

Élizabeth Garouste was born in 1946 in Paris, the daughter of Russian immigrants. She studied interior design at the École Camondo in Paris. She worked designing theater sets and in the fashion industry before meeting Mattia Bonetti, a Swiss designer, born in 1952, who was trained in textile design at the Centro Scolastico per l’Industria Artistica in Lugano. He also worked as a product designer, stylist and photographer. 

The duo was named Designers of the Year at the International Furniture Fair in 1991. Their work is held in such prestigious collections as the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.