Helen Fette, Li Meng Shu, and the Art of the Chinese Rug

My long read for the South China Morning Post last weekend on the Fette-Li Rug Company of Peking and Tientsin…click here…

At the turn of the twentieth century any discerning American home whose inhabitants displayed ‘taste’ had an oriental rug, invariably a Chinese one. But, by the 1930s tastes were evolving and while there was still a great appreciation of the aesthetics of Chinese rugs, the traditional patterns and skilled weaving, there was also a desire for rugs that incorporated the modern, abstract designs and vibrant, striking colours of the art-deco age. One Chinese company sought to successfully assimilate these two desires marrying traditionally woven carpets with new avant garde designs – the Fette-Li Rug Company of Beijing and Tianjin.