By drawing on designs from the archives and current collections, combining new elements and introducing new colours these fresh interpretations maintain the distinctive ‘handwriting’ of the company. The Borders Collection takes Roger Oates flooring beyond the stairs. The borders have been carefully considered so that they become an integral feature when seamed together as rugs. Each border design has its own complementary ground or has been designed to co-ordinate with an existing ground design. Traditionally co-ordinating designs feature a bold stripe onthe stairs with a complementary plain for landings and rugs. These designs reverse that principle with a border stripe on the stairs and a bold repeating stripe on the landing. Woven textiles appeared for the first time on floors in poorerhouseholds and narrow width flatweave runners were frequently used to protect better qualitycarpets in smart countryhomes in the 18th century. Flatweave lost favour in post war Britain when wall to wall carpets became fashionable in postwar Britain and mechanisation made pilecarpets such as Wilton and Axminster more affordable. Roger Oates Design re-introduced flatweave runners into the UK in the late 1980s transforming it from a humble floorcovering to a decorative textile in its own right. Roger Oates, rogeroates.com, 020 7351 2288
