Catherine Martin’s Majorelle is exuberantly luxurious!
Catherine Martin is an Australian costume designer, production designer and set designer, with 4 Oscars, 5 BAFTAs and a Tony Award among many others. To the millions around the world who have seen the movies, CM known as the woman who made Nicole Kidman resplendent in red in the costumes for ‘Moulin Rouge!’, for making us want to shimmy our way in beaded dresses into the lavish party scenes in ‘The Great Gatsby’ and most recently for the visually resplendent biopic ‘Elvis’.
After the runaway success of two rug collection, Designer Rugs is thrilled to present the first Axminster carpet collection from Catherine Martin – ‘Majorelle’. An eclectic collection of premium carpet designs, Majorelle is inspired by Catherine Martin’s love for tropical flora and fauna whilst drawing on influences from middle eastern design.
This latest Axminster collection references Jardin Majorelle, Yves Saint Laurent’s enchanting retreat designed by living legend Jacques Grange in Marrakesh, famed for its sophisticated and exotic interior design, brilliant blue exterior and magnificent gardens. The collection also pays homage to Catherine’s French heritage and love affair with French culture, design and interior architecture. Photographed in partnership with long-time Catherine Martin collaborator Mokum, these designs embrace a maximalist approach to interiors and create a sea of bold pattern underfoot.
“Celebrating my love of mixing discordant textures and patterns, into extravagantly contrasting but nevertheless visually enticing combinations, I seek, in this collection, to find a style where being baroque is elegant and modern,” says Catherine. “Marrying animal print and embellished tropical designs and an exuberantly luxurious palette, this is a collection that is meant to be both glamorous and playful.”
I was fortunate to attend the launch event last week in Sydney, which represented a very special partnership between Designer Rugs, Mokum and Catherine Martin. DR and Mokum had a shared vision for both the photography for this collection and the launch event, which was simply sumptuous! Over 200 guests from Australia’s design industry attended, Incredible video created by Baz and CM’s visual effects wizard Chris Tangney, featuring behind the scenes images from Elvis. 5m long gold velvet curtains by Mokum hung next to the video projection for a bit of movie magic.
Embracing the capabilities of Designer Rugs talented in-house design and production teams, this collection also extends the potential for the customer with the possibility of customisation in pattern repeat, colour ways and scaling. “Creating unique designs for Axminster carpet is a natural progression for us as a luxury rug brand – the flexibility of design and colour, and the renowned high quality of this type of carpet production has made it a very successful venture.” stated Yosi Tal, Managing Director Designer Rugs.
Consisting of five striking designs, the collection is made in a durable wool and nylon blend, and would be equally at home in a federation style home as an opulent hotel, and everything in between.