Amy Lau

Following her degree in Art History, she received a master’s degree in Fine and Decorative Arts from the prestigious Sotheby’s graduate program in New York.

Studying with leading curators, art historians, and industry professionals, she honed her curatorial eye and developed a deep passion for design. Both were put to use at Aero Ltd., where she served as director under founder Thomas O’Brien. She was subsequently appointed design director of New York City’s noted Lin-Weinberg Gallery, which specialized in international mid-century modernism.

In 2005, she cofounded the prestigious Design Miami fair, which assembles the most significant galleries specializing in design from the post-war period to the present. Established to run in conjunction with Art Basel Miami Beach, the Design Miami fair has expanded to become a vital forum for exhibiting, discussing, creating, and collecting design.

When I am asked to design an open interior, I like to think of rugs as islands which will anchor whatever furnishings I layer on top. After I found out that a client was crazy for the painter Rex Ray, I commissioned one of his rugs in chartreuse, brown and blue shades inspired by a Ray painting. Then I designed matching bespoke pillows and custom upholstery textiles. The latter are used to cover furniture chosen to highlight the same organic shapes Ray tends to favor in his paintings.

Rugs themselves often serve as art in rooms that I design. For the Central Park South living room rug of a modern artist, I took inspiration from one of her own 1960’s paintings. After dramatically enlarging the composition, I re-colored it using hot lipstick pink, grey shades, and black. A low pile woven from six or seven different fibers, such as banana silk, help to imbue the final product with an impression of brushstrokes.

People tell me that my work is consistently recognizable, but I consider my taste in rugs to be wildly eclectic. I adore Art Noveau and Moderne carpets, antique Aubussons, weathered kilims, Mid-Century geometrics, and even old-fashioned needlepoint construction. Somehow, I find that I am equally attracted to Scandinavian, Moroccan, and Kurdish rugs. And I admire the way that mid-century designers such as Alvar Aalto and Le Corbusier used ethnic rugs to soften architectural interiors. As I discovered the wide selection available through Doris Leslie Blau, I began to realize how the right vintage rug can mellow rooms I design, with a subtle nod to design history.

My custom carpet designs for Doris Leslie Blau spring from the same original watercolor artwork that informed my collection of fabrics for S. Harris. The design in all three rug formats, including a very popular runner, feature vibrant freeform dots on a neutral ground made from neutral-colored wool. The silk yarn used for the dots can be ordered in a trio of closely related analogous shades: shocking fuchsia, red, and orange. Another version of the rug uses a progression of dots in optimistic yellow, green, orange, and red.

Spirited Rya carpets from Scandinavia are vivid in color and can have surprising patterns–often referencing nature just like so many of my favorite furnishings. Vintage handmade Rya rugs are generally small, so I have used them in apartment entrances. But since they feature the long pile of a shag, I also find them perfect for cozy bedrooms. Just add an easy chair and coordinating ottoman!