From new riffs on old traditions to contemporary graphics, these textiles are the best in show.
With the reemergence of fiber craft in recent years, rugs and tapestries are not just seen as functional pieces but opportunities for adding artistic flair to the home. Independent designers have gotten wittier with their knits, using new fabrication technologies. Experimental tufting and knotting techniques transform simple wall hangings into fine art. Glass, wood, and metal are being threaded into designs. Wovens have become more expressive, more pictorial, and more conceptual. A number of American (or America-based) fiber artists continue to interpret the craft in unconventional ways.
Grid & Geometric
Crisp lines. Angular corners. Symmetrical shapes. There’s a timelessness to this versatile aesthetic that makes these floor coverings palatable for the home. But throw in a few off-kilter grids and color combinations and all of a sudden these rugs offer a bold and refreshing contrast to the muted furniture pieces surrounding them.
Landscape Rug by Ellen Van Dusen
The Brooklyn-based designer of the textile and home goods line Dusen Dusen trades in her usual graphics-heavy prints for a more modular, puzzle-piece approach. 
Crux by Kelly Wearstler
By splicing and shifting the grid into a triangular motif, then incorporating gradient tones throughout, the Los Angeles studio practice creates a rug that tricks the eye. 
Solace II Madder by Yolande Batteau, Callidus Guild
For this particular rug, the Brooklyn artist Yolande Batteau takes a tile-like grid and softens the lines, creating a more freehand-style framework. 
Fuji-Michi by Yabu Pushelberg
The design of this rug, with its series of interpolated lines, stripes, and weaving patterns, interprets a religious pilgrimage route to Mount Fuji. 
Collaged Cuts
These rugs have a decidedly carefree, cut-and-assemble approach, resulting in collage-like designs more akin to DIY scrapbooking than digital design. By leaning into organic shapes and mixed textures of tufts and weaves, these artists have created abstract sketches that embody a lively and improvised spirit.
Collage Rug, Edition 2 by Danny Kaplan
The multidisciplinary designer Danny Kaplan prefers tactility—he builds furniture, throws ceramics, and assembles light devices—so he takes a handcrafted approach with rugs. 
Kintsugi Rug by Ally-Catherine Trenary
The “cracked” appearance of this rug echoes the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, or the beauty of imperfection. 
Ribbon Gesture I Agate by Yolande Batteau, Callidus Guild
This rug achieves the illusion of liquefied bubbles using a hand-knotted construction and yarn colors that mimic shadows and highlights to create depth. 
Tapestry from Sheep Collection by Studio Ahead
This tapestry of appliquéd soft blobs is constructed from a medley of blended natural materials that includes silk, wool, and fleece. 
Twins by Eny Lee Parker
The New York City designer, whose art practice originated with handspun ceramics, finds inspiration in an unconventional rug shape and earthy, claylike tones. 
Illustrative Illusions
Some rugs could be considered artwork for the floor. Maybe they depict intricate scenes, or maybe they’re mere concepts of an image. Designers, it seems, are leaning into graphic playfulness by using tufting, knotting, and weaving techniques to create mirages and story-filled tableaux.
Embrace for Audience Collection by Cold Picnic
A long, bendy arm encircles the perimeter of this rug, setting a playful invitation to the space. 
Runa by Kelly Wearstler
The bounciness of musical rhythm is the inspiration behind this textured rug design, consisting of gradient squares that are overlaid in tonal hues. 
Digital Drangea Dream by Maurice Harris
The depicted flower arrangement has a painterly quality to it but look closely at the construction details and you’ll see how the hand-knotted details mimic those of pixels. 
Wanderlust Flame by Warp & Weft
The subtle gloss of the Indian mulberry silk helps bring visual depth and Muppet-y texture to the urchin-like bursts. 
Collage by Heather Chontos x Layered
Here, a collage of dyeing techniques: space dyed (multiple colors on yarn) and solid dyed (a single color) to achieve the abrash effect, which highlight the variations of those inconsistent yarns. 
Hand Painted Tapestry 12 by BDDW
Tyler Hays painted a series of linen tapestries, each one capturing an American landscape. 
Retrospective Representations
Ornamental patterns and heritage details that have cycled through centuries are reinterpreted in contemporary designs. But it’s all loosely defined—the historicism could be traced to the subtle trim of a rug, or it could be a full-blown revision of a familiar motif. No matter. The nods to ancient rugs abound.
Arwen by Kelly Wearstler
Kelly Wearstler’s take on the classic checkered print includes a traditional cut-pile process that begets super plush, but slightly distressed-looking squares. 
Americana Quilted Tapestries, Auberge Primland by Kufri, in collaboration with Chad Dorsey Design
Kufri founder Mili Suleman looks to the great American quilt and its heritage block designs to stitch a contemporary tapestry meant to be hung over the bed. 
Neuroweave 002 by Güvenç Özel and Mehmet Bozatli
By utilizing both AI and physical technologies, the design platform Neuroweave deconstructs and recontextualizes the Persian-style rug pattern. 
Avis by Bradley Odom
Bradley Odom reimagines the ancient vaq-vaq pattern, a decorative motif rooted in Persian folklore, by way of mythological birds and fantastical flora. 
Textural Tapestries
The revived interest in textile art could be credited to the works of gallery-bound fiber artisans. These craft-led designers aren’t interested in traditional rugs per se, but more so tapestries—woven wall art, if you will. These are usually entirely handmade and encompass any combination of quilting, knotting, beading, weaving, and collaging techniques.
Bison Quilt by Wally Dion
Wally Dion, a Yellow Quill First Nation artist based in Binghamton, New York, makes quilted mosaics out of transparent fabrics. (In other works, he creates quilts from computer circuit boards.) 
Tapestry IV (1850–60 French Cotton) by Wretched Flowers
Loney Abrams and Johnny Stanish, the founders of Wretched Flowers, have beaded white jade gemstones onto a chainmail tapestry inspired by a mid-19th century French cotton textile. 
Down with the Ship by Maris Van Vlack
The Massachusetts-born Maris Van Vlack mashes mixed fibers with a variety of weaving techniques like jacquard, knitting, and embroidery to construct her massive wall art. 
#43 by Erik Speer
The deft textile artist Erik Speer pushes the boundaries of macrame—taking knotting, knitting, crocheting, braiding, and weaving techniques—to assemble sensorial tapestries. 
