Anjum Hotel, Mecca
One day noted British designer Henrietta Spencer-Churchill came into my showroom and saw my “Chrysanthemum” rug, a 300-knot piece based on the Iznik tiles in the Rustem Pasha Mosque in Istanbul. Henrietta said that she was trying to get a project for a hotel in Mecca, and if she was successful, she wanted me to design the rugs. A few months later. Henrietta stopped in with the good news: we would work on seven Presidential Suites for the Anjum Hotel.
“We would work on seven Presidential Suites for the Anjum Hotel!”
Each suite’s décor was based on Islamic design from a different country, and there were two large rugs per suite. Henrietta gave me the fabrics for the suites, and I developed designs for her. We exchanged ideas using the internet and in showroom visits. I did a series of strike-offs, and only one design had to be recolored.
The hand-tufted rugs were produced in Thailand, the hand-knotted ones in Nepal and the padding came from the US. My shipping manager coordinated everything so that all of the elements would come together. Because Mecca is a closed city, neither the designer nor I was able to go to the job site; we relied on measurements done by workers at the hotel.
You can see the results for yourself! I’m delighted that my rugs can be seen on Anjum’s website. Because the formal photos show only hand-tufted rugs, I’ve included a photo that was taken by my manufacturer in Nepal of one of the hand-knotted rugs. No matter how far-flung the project, we would be happy to work with you.
