The inventiveness of certain product designers never ceases to amaze me. Take the Israeli-born designer Liora Manne, for example, who developed the patented Lamontage technique, which she uses to create her amazing indoor/outdoor rugs and pillows. She recently invited me to her showroom in the Chelsea district of Manhattan to show me how the process works—and how it allows her to create a wide range of subtle effects in her products, many of which look like hand-painted works of art. The technique involves overlapping swaths of polyester fibers in different colors to create a unique design and then merging them together by punching them repeatedly by hand with large needles to produce a highly durable felt-like material that makes a super-resilient floor covering.
Liora started out using the technique to make custom carpets and even wallcoverings for commercial applications, such as the Delano Hotel in Miami or the Gramercy Hotel in New York. She still uses the process to create custom flooring, but over the last few years, she has worked with her husband to perfect an affordable machine-made version of her delightfully whimsical indoor-outdoor rugs, as well as new lines of pillows and place mats made of the material, which is anti-microbial
and machine washable, too.
Liora told me she sees the floor as a stage for introducing color and creating moods in a room. I happen to agree—I’m a person who favors neutrals in a room, but rugs are the way I add color and pattern to my spaces. For more of Liora’s thoughts on how a floor-covering can add happiness to a room, see my piece “6 Home-Decorating Ideas to Boost Your Bliss.” And to see more of Liora’s amazingly creative work, visit her site, lioramanne.com.
