Hospitality Design - July 2014 - 81

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emma
gardner

proﬁle

By Alissa Ponchione
Photography courtesy of Emma Gardner Design

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CREATIVELY LAID PLAN

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A former writer ﬁnds an outlet in rug design

Emma Gardner didn't set out to become a
rug designer. Her innate love of art was a
driving force in helping guide her career,
but initially it was one headed toward
academia. Following the pedagogical route
in the humanities, however, didn't make
sense to Gardner. Instead, in 1996, she ended
up starting-both designing and editing-
Smarty-Pants, an online magazine for young
women.
Gardner's editorial career was a natural
fit. She soon became the producer of the food
channel for iVillage.com, and then editorin-chief of Condé Nast's Phys.com, an online
health and fitness magazine. But when
people asked what she did, "I was never all
that happy," she says. "As a kid, I was always
drawing patterns and designing. I always
had an artistic ambition."
When Gardner became pregnant with
her first child 14 years ago at the same time
her position at Condé Nast was eliminated,
she decided it was time to take a career risk.
"I had wind under my sails," she says. "I
grew up with a conviction that I had to find
the career that I loved, and if I stuck to it,
then everything would work out fine."
Falling back on her childhood
predilection, especially for graphic design,
she chose rugs as her outlet. Because she
knew nothing about the business, she took
the time to research the industry and found
herself drawn to the timeless look of handknotted rugs. Having never gone to art
school, Gardner's aesthetic was informed
by a textile design course she took at the
Fashion Institute of Technology in New

1. Gardner's frangipaniinspired rug in the
Condado Plaza Hotel in
Puerto Rico is mimicked
in a glass-tile mosaic
backing the reception
desk.

York. From there, she spent a year building
her portfolio, tending toward combinations
of vibrant tones juxtaposed with more
neutral colors. Overall, "I make what I think
is beautiful," she explains.
For Gardner, rugs are "a wonderful
vehicle for design," and provided her with
the freedom to construct her own career. By
2002, her creations were in eight showrooms
across the U.S.; by 2003, she was showing at
the International Contemporary Furniture
Fair (ICFF); and by 2005, she started doing
signature hospitality projects. Her first was
designing a rug for the common area of a
mixed-use building in Vietnam.
Since then, Gardner has produced
rugs-which are mostly made from Tibetan
wool and Chinese silk-and other interior
products for the hospitality world, recently
creating a mermaid-inspired piece for the
newly opened WestHouse Hotel New York
by Jeffrey Beers. The design contains the
skeleton-key motif seen throughout the

2. The designer's
Rainy Day rug contains
abstract lines made of
raised silk on an all-wool
background.

3. With Organica,
Gardner experimented
with organic exploration
by treating the design
and coloring like a
puzzle.

hotel and required precise color matting and
interpretations in fiber to create the watery
background. Additionally, she worked with
Rockwell Group on the Condado Plaza Hotel
in Puerto Rico-"a dream job"-where her
design of the local flower, the frangipani,
was incorporated beyond her large abstract
and free-floating lobby rug into a glass-tile
mosaic by SICIS in the reception area. "It's
a challenge and a treat to work with other
creative people to make rugs that are a part
of that overall experience," she explains.
The Petaluma, California-based designer
still draws inspiration from her past life of
studying literature and philosophy, which
has allowed her to evolve as a designer.
"With each project, I try to do something
different and something challenging," she
says. "I never retread ground I covered." hd
em m agardnerdesi g n.com

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