cc-tapis Ceremony Night Handmade Rug by Mae Engelgeer

Mae Engelgeer’s deep love of textiles characterizes each and every one of the decorative rugs and tapestries she produces in her workshop. The Dutch designer explores how geometric forms can lend a complex and balanced feel to her works, and she creates vibrant combinations of color, pattern and texture so that each project yields a harmonious whole that is imbued with a rich sense of dimension. 

Engelgeer has enjoyed working with her hands since she was young. She studied textile design at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, graduating in 2004. She spent some time working in fashion before enrolling at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam for postgraduate study in applied arts and textiles. 

While she knew she wanted to be a textile designer, Engeleer lacked a clear-cut path toward a career in the industry. She decided to forge her own way and developed a textile collection for TextielLab of the TextielMuseum. In 2013, she opened her own studio. 

Working in her own studio gave Engelgeer the freedom to experiment with her craft and with different textile traditions. While continuing to create minimalist but playful carpet designs, she has also expanded into related areas such as bedding, cushions and blankets. 

In addition to designing for her own studio collections, Engelgeer regularly collaborates with brands across the globe on a range of products. She has over the years partnered with companies such as cc-tapis, Ames, Honor and Kvadrat.

On 1stDibs, find Mae Engelgeer carpets, wall decorations and more.

The cc-tapis rug company creates deep-piled, lustrous Himalayan wool rugs and carpets in a dizzying variety of modern designs, shapes and colors. Each intricate piece is hand-knotted in Nepal by expert Tibetan rug artists over several months. 

The cc-tapis tagline is “Born in France. Designed in Milan. Produced in Nepal.” Its founders — Fabrizio Cantoni and Nelcya Chamszadeh — met while studying hospitality management in Switzerland. While they pursued careers in the hotel industry, they ultimately decided on a change. Chamszadeh’s father owned a traditional Persian carpet shop in Strasbourg, Germany, and the idea for cc-tapis took shape. 

Their first shop opened in Strasbourg in 2001. They later relocated the company to Milan, Italy, in 2011. Cantoni enrolled in a master’s course in interior design and met fellow designer Daniele Lora. Lora became the couple’s business partner and the company’s creative director. Together, the three created the brand name; “cc” is the couple’s surname initials, and “tapis” is the French word for carpet.

At the company’s eponymous laboratory, the cc-tapis design lab, the trio’s love of experimentation allowed them to reach outside of the carpet-making world and promote the imaginations of designer Faye Toogood and architect Patricia Urquiola. Collaborations with designers Sabine Marcelis, Mae Engelgeer and Philippe Malouin also pushed the company into the interior design spotlight.

Today cc-tapis continues to partner with contemporary designers and draws on a broad base of expertise and creativity to make stunning rugs that are the embodiment of furniture as art.

On 1stDibs, find cc-tapis rugs and carpets, wall decorations and more.