Evening star., 1936-09-12
BY vESTA CUMMINGS.


TOR the first time since New Eng
- lands Puritan DANES created
floor coverings by hooking
= strips Of wool petticoats and
calico sunbonnets into burlap. Amer
lea is originating carpet designs. ac-
cording to Zareh Sourian, architect,
interior decorator and rug designer
of New York.
Since colonists and pioneers first
found leisure to notice that their log
| cabin floors seemed little bare, Amer
leans have been pacing the lovely rugs
of other countries If they could pay
the purchase price, or attempting to
duplicate foreign hand-woven prod
ucts with machines.
In the last three years, however,
this country has produced unique pat
terms for floor coverings that may
eventually be copied or sold abroad,
since their originality arouses CLEANS
of appreciation in the twentieth CEN
tury eye and matches the tempo of
modern heels. Not 'modernistic" in
the accepted use of that word, the
new rugs are rather utterly fresh ex-
preSsionS of the young artists of the
machine age, rugs with designs
achieved by differences of texture and
materials, and colors following the
national trend toward lightness of
tone in furniture and architecture.
Few women have missed the expert
euce of trying to select rugs for re-
Gently constructed interiors, Sourian
says, only to discover that nothing but
a monotone patternless carpeting
seemed to do. The wide use of plain
carpetlng was a compromise, he
explains, representing transitory
period to the new floor coverings
especially devised for the American
mode of life. At last, Sourian says
We are keeping step with American
architecture. whose skyscrapers the
world considers this continents prin-
| cipal contribution to art.
WHILE the Oriental rug, containing
all colors of the rainbow, calls
for no other ornate surfaces in the
room. the new rugs enlarge possibil-
tiles for the use of color in upholstery
and hangings, and are even influ-
encing the kind of dresses women
wear. Indeed, glance at one of the
lovely, serene, champagle-co colored
rugs Sourian designed brings visions
of moving across it in a violet velvet
tea gown or party dress the color OF
flame. Both the fascinating names
and shades called pistache green
marroccan brown, and mahogany red,
are a sharp departure from the con-
ventional greens, hennas and blues
usually found underfoot.
An Armenian born in Constanti-
nople, Sourian came to this country
as very young man, acquired Bos-
tonian wife, and was graduated in ar
chitecture at the Massachusetts, Insti-
tute of Technology. He was on the
staff of the firm erecting the Empire
State Building. While becoming an
American himself he learned to use the
materials Of America to express its
spirit. He created the first American
sidewalk cafe for the st. Moritz Hotel
in New York the first Summer of re-
peal.
"The artist of the machine age"
Sourian says. knows that only the
machine can make enough lovely
things to supply large markets. The
new industrial artists and stylists are
studying steel and steam"
THE advantages of being a builder
of houses as well as an interior
designer is revealed by Sourian when
he talks of rugs.
I'VE can unquestionably trace the
demand for plain shade carpet to ar