In partnership with Armadillo
What happens to a rug when colour stops doing the talking? For its new Meridian Collection, Armadillo begins with that provocation, removing decoration as the primary event and allowing fibre, weave and construction to determine the character of each piece.
The result is a collection that reads almost like a material map. Named for the imaginary lines we use to orient ourselves across the earth, the Meridian collection traces its own geography through New Zealand wool, European blends, Indian jute and Afghan wool, before each rug is handmade by the brand's artisans in India. Provenance becomes part of the design language: where a fibre comes from, how it behaves and whose hands shape it are as consequential as the finished surface.
Across nine rugs, Armadillo turns technique into an aesthetic proposition. Flatweaves sit alongside cut pile and looped constructions; irregularities are retained rather than engineered away. It is a compelling way to consider an object so often chosen as a backdrop. Here, the rug becomes an archive of process.
Selva makes this idea clearest. Armadillo’s elevated interpretation of the traditional kilim is handwoven from three distinct hanks of Afghan wool, brought together in a continuous form. Its striations align in clean bands without becoming perfectly uniform, creating an organic patchwork that reveals the many hands involved in its making. Available across a pared-back selection of taupes, browns and desert hues, its palette keeps attention trained on structure.
Elsewhere, Arroyo magnifies the familiar herringbone weave in felted wool, giving the pattern an intentionally irregular, cushioned dimension, while its generous depth adds softness and substance underfoot. Lathe uses alternating cut and loop pile in fine jute, washed to give the fibre a luminous finish that shifts with the light, creating a subtle interplay of texture and sheen.
The collection also moves beyond the floor. Armadillo commissioned Naarm/Melbourne artist and designer Jessie French to create Sill, a room divider from her MarbleWood series. Made using French’s patented algae-derived polymer system, locally milled artist pigment and a hand-poured process, its marbled surface evokes sediment and geological formations.
That connection feels central to Meridian. In an interiors landscape where surfaces can be endlessly replicated, Armadillo is interested in the opposite: specificity. Natural fibres vary. Handiwork leaves traces and materials age according to their own logic – the collection treats those characteristics as information rather than imperfection.
It also gives the collection an unusual intimacy: each surface rewards proximity. The closer you look, the more its construction emerges, from tonal shifts to the tension and rhythm of fibres. A meridian may be an invisible line, but it tells us where we are.
Discover the Armadillo Meridian Collection, available globally in showrooms and online now.
