Momeni New Wave Handmade Wool Area Rugs and Carpets Review

Momeni New Wave collection offers a wide range of runner and area wool rugs executed in various shapes and presenting contemporary abstract ornament. New Wave carpets are handmade (hand-tufted) from Chinese wool, and, according to Momeni, feature influences of Tibetan weaving technique.

It's the company's both most versatile (containing over eighty different patterns) and popular collection, outperforming traditional Persian and Oriental lines as well as such contemporary and traditional rug designs as Metro, Java, and Spencer.

What distinguishes New Wave from the brand's other products, and indeed from such competitors as Nourison and Safavieh, is the direct transition of familiar abstract themes in Western art from painting to weaving. Ideas of pure color and form, as advocated by Mondrian, Kandinsky, Malevich, Rothko, and other abstract painters, find their way to a different medium (wool), and a different axis (floor).

Though a very tradition aware brand, here Momeni reveal an uncanny understanding of the modern concept of “abstract” – they literally translate its principles into the third dimension.

New Wave area rugs can be categorized according to several more or less stable design trends:

• Landscape patterns are the most figurative, as well as the rarest in this collection: vaguely familiar botanical shapes quickly dissipate into smears of color, lines, and geometrical forms. Availability in several color schemes compensates for the rarity.

• Geometrically inspired rugs demonstrate vibrant variety. Some of the patterns appear to pulsate, others remind of computer pixelation or resemble fireworks effects; puzzle-like and labyrinthine compositions constitute yet another branch in this category. The overall result is imbalanced, yet harmonious and compositionally sound.

• Chaotic and asymmetrical carpets do away with harmony and calm, opting instead for busy, aggressively bubbling patterns that appear ready to explode. These rugs are very expressive and individualistic; they may definitely appear too harsh for more traditionally inclined customers.

• In wavelike rugs Momeni gradually shift back to lower gears: flowing aquatic lines and waves, as well as geographic motifs (reminiscent of bird's views) introduce soft symmetry and a little playfulness. Some of these rugs can be delightfully enigmatic.