Some families take their textiles very seriously.
On a recent morning, Fabian Berglund, one of the co-founders of the Swedish rug and textile company Nordic Knots, carefully arranged a rack of miniature rugs so that each was angled at a perfect 45-degree angle. Liza Berglund Laserow — Mr. Berglund’s wife and another co-founder, along with Mr. Berglund’s brother, Felix — was adjusting curtain samples, explaining why the green she had chosen had a touch of yellow in it, which cast a golden hue. “A green light is very, very unflattering,” she said.
Mr. Berglund, 42, said he prefers to think of a rug in a room as “the fourth wall.” Since starting Nordic Knots in 2016, the couple has built the brand quietly but with influence. This includes their first American store, opening this week in New York’s SoHo.
What is it about this relatively small rug company (Nordic Knots employs about 40 people) that has made it so beloved among a certain taste-making set? The British home ware designer Matilda Goad is a fan. So is the reality television star Scott Disick.
“We want to make design cool, but also accessible,” Mr. Berglund said.
“I think that concept is very Swedish,” added Ms. Berglund Laserow, 43. “We don’t have an elite view on design. We like to say we have a socialist way of looking at design, that it should be accessible to more people. Because that’s what IKEA did, right?”
Of course, the price point for Nordic Knots — rugs in their Grand collection, for example, range from $495 to $3,195 — is much higher than IKEA’s. But the brand was born out of the couple’s own frustrations in trying to find floor coverings that were of a certain quality but not outrageously expensive. When they started the company in 2016, the market offered only very cheap or very high-end options.
Previously, Mr. Berglund worked in advertising as a creative director at Anomaly and Wieden+Kennedy, while Ms. Berglund Laserow worked with her mother, the furniture dealer and interior designer Karin Laserow, who is an expert in Swedish antiques from 1500 to 1850. Their professional backgrounds may help to explain the brand’s savvy strategy.
