Everything Bond’s paintbrush touches turns into a meandering, punch-drunk path of flowers and leaves bursting with life; she creates the mythic landscape we’re all seeking in our finest daydreaming doodles. The Rifle Paper Co. collaboration with Loloi sees Bond’s work on its largest canvas yet, three rug collections, and 37 pillows. To transform her painted work onto rug form, Bond had to rewire her brain a bit. “One of the biggest challenges for me was scale,” she said, “I hand-paint my illustrations with gouache, and I typically paint products in the scale in which they will be produced.” (Think: an iPhone-sized painting for a Rifle iPhone case.) She couldn’t exactly do that with room-spanning rugs. “I was continually tweaking and leaning on Loloi’s expertise. We had to work to recreate colors and painted texture within each construction method as each style of rug has its own limitations to color, hook size, and so on.” The soft-between-your-toes wool hook rugs had more color options for Bond to play with, so those are the styles available in the vibrant Rifle Paper Co. florals.
The Loloi collaboration, the first of more to come, includes pieces in Bond’s signature florals, as well as original pieces based on traditional designs she’s put her spin on. “I grew up going to my Armenian grandparents house every week,” she said. “My grandmother had beautiful Persian carpets in every room of the house (some even hanging as tapestries) and I have many memories studying the colors and patterns of each one. As I was designing this collection I did a lot of research on different styles of Persian rugs, what regions they are from, and different motifs.”
One of her favorites is the deep navy Nairi rug with small flower clusters, reminiscent of Renaissance tapestries that held ancient stories within their threads. There’s even more myth in the Palais collection, beautiful flatweave rugs in dusted pink, muted ivory, and burnished rust. “I wanted to be sure that our collection not only had the vibrant florals and colors you would expect from our brand but also more neutral patterns that could be versatile and fit in any home,” she added.
One of her favorites is the deep navy Nairi rug with small flower clusters, reminiscent of Renaissance tapestries that held ancient stories within their threads. There’s even more myth in the Palais collection, beautiful flatweave rugs in dusted pink, muted ivory, and burnished rust. “I wanted to be sure that our collection not only had the vibrant florals and colors you would expect from our brand but also more neutral patterns that could be versatile and fit in any home,” she added.
You can find Rifle’s cheeky sense of humor in the pillow collection, where six different sizes offer a range of patterns, textures, and colors. On a rectangular throw pillow, a short-legged pup in a sweater fills the length of the frame. Vintage postcard-inspired designs shout out to Paris, London, and New York on plush 22x22 backdrops in sturdy Loloi fabrics. A cartoon woman in a big hat seems to almost ride a motorized scooter right off the pillow itself. A gilded forest on a black pillow is pure glamour. Another proclaims, in Bond’s curly, embroidered script: “The World Is Your Oyster!” It’s not a catchphrase plucked from thin air, but words of encouragement that her husband and Rifle co-owner Nathan Bond used to repeat while the couple was still dating, broke, and figuring out life. All are beautiful, playful, and uniquely Rifle. Don’t take this whole life thing too seriously, they seem to say. Make yourself at home.
