The Studio
Jennifer Manners Design
Founded in 2014 in a small studio on the Kings Road in London, Jennifer Manners Design quickly became known for its big passion for rugs.
Since the beginning, the studio has worked collaboratively and creatively with some of the most celebrated design professionals around the world providing luxury rugs for both residential and commercial projects. With a commitment to the handmade heritage and a uniquely sustainable approach, Jennifer Manners has become synonymous with timeless, elegance, sustainable luxury and British design.
Our founder, Jennifer, has extensive travel exposure largely gained from her former career as a foreign news journalist. With an instinctual approach to observation and interpretation, many of the designs are derived from cultures and destinations across the globe. The patterns are often elegant, textured and interesting abiding to the philosophy that a rug is a layer in a room that must sit in balance with other elements. Therefore, they are designed in concert to an overall space.
With its passion for innovation and collaboration, the studio has won several awards including Best Sustainable Product (Decorex International), “Best British Brands” (Country & Townhouse Magazine) and “Best Accessory” (Homes & Garden UK) amongst others.
Now based in Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, London, and New York Design Center, New York, Jennifer Manners Design continues to push the boundaries of weaving, materials and design and are passionate about delivering sustainable options to luxury interiors. After eight years, the studio feels they are only at the beginning of the journey. Many exciting collaborations are in the pipeline and continued material innovation.
Passion for Pattern
From news journalist to award-winning textile designer, Jennifer Manners has always found inspiration through travel.
Originally from Kentucky, USA, her early career as a TV news journalist meant she travelled throughout the world collecting, shaping and evolving her aesthetic.
She also discovered that much of what each culture embraced – and the story of their journey – was often expressed through their art. She collected hand-stitched textiles from Guatemala, hand-embroidered Kuba cloths from the Congo, handwoven carpets from Turkey and intricately woven fabrics in China amongst other treasured pieces. These items represent expressions of a culture brought to life by the individual who crafted them thread-by-thread, embodying their story.
It's this same approach that her studio takes to design. Creating stories with patterns and colours that reflect a personal meaning to the individual who will own them.
Jennifer is hands-on with each design and personally oversees each and every rug the studio produces. She travels to meet with our weavers regularly, forming a personal and lasting relationship with each, identifying ways we can better support our family of workers and their wider community.
The Journey
Love for Design
After 12-years as a news journalist, Jennifer retrained as an interior designer attending Central St. Martins in London. She approached her design projects with the same passion for storytelling that had guided her news career: a home should reflect the people who live there and tell their story.
She also quickly realised how vital proportion was and fell in love with how stunning, handmade rugs hugely effect a tone for a space. Her unswerving dedication to detail made it difficult to find rugs in the precise size, colour, scale and quality she wanted. It was then she set up meetings with the master weaver she met in Kathmandu, and a new adventure began.
Collaboration
The studio now works in collaboration with some of the world’s most influential interior designers and architects creating truly individual pieces for each project. The team also works directly with private clients, helping them to create their own unique piece, reflecting the heart and soul of a space.
These individuals all have a story to tell. One private client regaled the memory of buying a vintage Missoni coat in Italy while being courted by her now husband, enthusiastically expressing how her love of the colours – and her husband – have never faded. She then walked to the cupboard to reveal the coat and in an instant, they both knew the colour palette for the rug had been determined.
Innovation
The collaboration doesn’t end with the design but rather comes to life through the artisanal process. Jennifer works alongside some of the most gifted artists and crafters in their fields in Nepal, India and Uzbekistan ensuring that the design vision is met with the commitment to the detail that allows the piece to stand out as something truly special. The spirit of travel and the love of culture is imbued in every piece JMD Studio produces.
Using the finest hand-carded wools and silks allows for each piece to become even more beautiful with time. Perfection is found in the imperfections. Each rug is created knot-by-knot with no two knots exactly the same, charmingly individual and totally unique.
The journey of Jennifer Manners Design has led to the inception of one of the most distinctive design studios in the industry with a classic, crisp look and incomparable quality. Learning more and more about weaving and the craft makes way for new ideas, textures and exploring creativity through textile.
Learn more about our commitment to craftsmanship by clicking through:
Sustainability
JMD Studio strives to make a profound difference to the weavers, dyers, finishers and artisans on our team. In partnership with our manufacturers in Nepal and India, we have worked tirelessly to lift the communities where our textiles are produced. Beyond providing meaningful employment for hundreds of weavers and artisans, we also support initiatives that protect children from child labour and ensure their schooling is paid for with the supplies and uniforms they need. We also work with local charities in India who work to support women and children in vulnerable positions due to poverty and a lack of education.
JMD is also at the forefront of research for new working practices and materials as part of our dedication to sustainability and environmental consciousness. While wool is already considered one of the most sustainable products available, we have actively developed our /re/PURPOSE PERFORMANCE fibre made of recycled water bottles. With our teams in India, a proprietary 2-step process transforms the plastic fibre to one that mimics the look and feel of natural wools. A single rug uses upwards of 6000 water bottles in its making. More about /re/PURPOSE PERFORMANCE can be found here.
