French Deco Rug by Marion Dorn BB6042 11'5" × 19'7" $280,000

Marion Dorn was one of the most important textile and rug designers of the first half of the 20th century. In addition to furnishing textiles she also designed interiors, wallpapers, graphics , and illustrations. Born in the United States she studied graphics at Standford University, moving into textile design in the early 1920s. Significant in forming her design outlook was a trip to Paris in 1923 with the American textile designer Ruth Reeves, who was well connected with a number of leading French designers such as Raoul Dufy. In the same year she moved to London with designer Edward McKnight Kauffer (with whom she lived until his death in 1954) establishing herself as an illustrator and designer of batiks. During the 1920s her designs began to attract attention, being illustrated in Vogue and The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Arts, and exhibited at the International Exhibition of Arts and Crafts, Leipzig, in 1927.

This carpet has the same design than the famous round carpet made for the main hall of the Claridge in London 1932. Marion Dorn has adapted the pattern to the rectangular shape of this version.