Centre of Attention Omar Khan’s rugs weave traditional craft and modern inspiration

While he only established his brand in 2014, Omar Khan’s rugs already grace the floors of beautiful spaces around the world, including homes, high-end restaurants, luxury boutiques and resorts. And the designer’s work now also includes a unique, elegant edit of five designs with Lane Crawford.

Composition, colour, texture and craftsmanship come together in every one of Khan’s rugs. Drawing on his background in furniture design, interior design and illustration, the designer brings tradition and historical symbols and motifs into the realm of high-end design.

‘My designs are a reinterpretation of the traditional,’ he explains. ‘I like to create a conversation between the materials, the construction and the design.’ The first two of those are just as important as the third, as Khan explains. ‘To make the rugs we use a technique called hand tufting, where our artisans use hand-held sewing machines and flesh out the design into a final piece.’ The intriguing designs and hand-crafted elements also distinguish Khan’s rugs through texture and dimension, with Khan’s team of artisans using various carving techniques to achieve the designer’s signature level of depth and complexity.

When it comes to construction, the brand is aligned with sustainable craft that gives the rugs meaning beyond the aesthetic. ‘We’ve worked with mills that recycle everything, right down to the water used in the dyeing process, and we try to work with bamboo and other renewable materials rather than synthetic ones,’ says Khan. ‘We also believe that it’s socially sustainable to foster and enable artisans to continue practicing their craft. For example, one of the mills we work within prides itself on keeping families together. A husband and wife weave together on one loom, and their children eventually learn the craft too. They all live together, and the rugs are all imbued with this collective energy. It’s really quite special.’

A myriad of cultural influences, including Chinese, Egyptian, Pakistani and Dutch, inspire the distinct designs, but not always in the ways one might expect. ‘The most abstract things tend to offer structure when it comes to design and composition,’ Khan says. From his dreams to shadows on the pavement and the way petals lie after they fall, there seems to be no end to his inspirations and interpretations.