Colin King’s New Rug Collection Is an Ode to Japan’s Influence on French Modernism

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In 2021, while working on the French gallery Demish Damant’s A Harmony of Things”—an exhibit exploring the intersection of Japanese and French minimalism—the interior stylist Colin King had a lightbulb moment. Within the research process, the AD100 decorator dived deep into japonisme, the 18th-century French interpretation (and incorporation) of Japanese style. After trade routes between the two countries opened following the period of sakoku, when Japan closed its borders to the Western world, French creatives were exposed to a restrained, uncluttered aesthetic entirely different from their own, typically more ornate design language. For the next decade, Japan would influence French modernists from Edgar Degas to Charlotte Perriand.

King, who is based in New York City, was immediately fascinated. “It was a movement that radically transformed Europe’s visual culture and permeated fine arts, sculpture, performing arts, architecture, industrial and furniture design, interiors as well as textile and decorative arts,” he explains. “The Japanese elicited the French to question the division between artist and designer and moved them to elevate the contributions of craftsmen. This principle interested me as the melding of craft and contemporary design.”

So, when creating his first-ever rug collection for Beni, King embraced Japan’s influence like so many great designers before him. Titled “A Study on Balance,” the collection puts a 2020s spin on both traditional Japanese motifs and the clean constructions of French modernists. “It reflects on the powerful influence of Japanese aesthetics, principles, and craft on French art, architecture, and design after Japan opened its doors to western trade routes in the mid-1850s, and over the century that followed,” King says of his work. “The collection was inspired by the techniques, repeating patterns, and motifs found in antique Japanese folk textiles and the scale and composition of Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Chareau, and Le Corbusier.”