An Art Deco/Moderne Movement runner

Designed by Ashley Havinden (1903-73), made at the Wilton Royal workshop, Wessex, c1935

13ft 10in x 4ft 2in : 422cm x 126cm

Ashley Havinden (1903-1973) was trained at the Central School for Arts & Crafts in London and he learnt to draw by Henry Moore and in 1933 exhibited with the Union Des Artistes Modernes in Paris. He designed rugs for Duncan Miller’s interior design company under the influence of cubism and futurism and in particular by the Bauhaus school. Also worked with Simpson's department store in Piccadilly by designing their carpets.

Having a wide range of projects he designed advertising posters (Chrysler cars, Pretty Polly and Liberty), typeface, Ashley Script, exhibited paintings in numerous London Art Galleries (was friends with Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson and John Piper), also he was involved with interior design.

The present rug, though not signed, is an unusual piece made at the end of Art Deco/beginning of the Modernist Movement period, with a whimsical theatrical design and having colouring typical for the age. The period was seen as a fashionable epoch and few carpets remain as many were discarded when the fashion ceased after the war, designs returned to classical inspired themes as these were considered safe and traditional, a return to normality.

One example from our collection of rare Art Deco/Moderne Movement carpets.