Patterns Woven Into World Bazaar

Concord Monitor:

If you bought a rug at Wal-Mart or Home Depot in the last three years, there’s a good chance it was designed by Tressa Kosowicz, a work-from-home mom from Hopkinton who left New York City’s fast-paced world of fashion design eight years ago.

After three years as a product developer for a major rug manufacturer, Kosowicz decided to bring her custom designs to Main Street. She and her father, Gerry Carrier, bought Little River Oriental Rugs on Dec. 28.

The handmade wool and silk rugs, made by weavers in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Turkey, Iran and India, still have many of the tribal designs that the shop has become known for over the years. But modern, contemporary styles are popping up in the traditional inventory, and soon customers will be able to custom-order Kosowicz’s own designs.

“They’re not going to find it anywhere else,” Kosowicz said in her shop on a recent Monday.

The shop was closed, but passers-by kept walking through the unlocked door, squatting to sort through stacks of long Oriental runners and larger room-sized area rugs. Carrier tended to the customers as Kosowicz showed computer print-outs of her new sample designs.

Cornflower blues and deep lavenders, stripes and concentric circles revealed just a sample of her ideas. Kosowicz said she can work with an interior designer or a home owner with just a little bit of inspiration - a piece of fabric, a pillow, a child’s artwork. Rugs, she said, are a centerpiece and should be a starting point for designing a room.

“If it doesn’t bring a smile to your face when you walk in in the morning, it’s time to change the rug,” she said.