28th October 2022 | IN COLOUR | BY SBID Share Tweet Pinterest LinkedIn Nora Chou is a luxury interior designer working on projects internationally in both the residential and hospitality industry. Focusing on creating layered moments through design, her mission is to create a sense of warmth, life and texture into her designs. Having grown her roots in Hong Kong and proceeding to live in equally vibrant cities including London and New York, she offers a certain cultural and lifestyle sensibility to the way she approaches creating interiors for her clients. Sky and Earth is a rug collection inspired by colours, life and energy we find in the great outdoors. The handpicked palettes by Nora Chou (“Sunrise”, “Dusk” and “Terra”) encourage colours to be brought into our interior spaces. Bring in your outdoors. "Flow Ombre - Sunrise" from Sky & Earth, a rug collection by Nora Chou exclusively for Silk Avenue "Flow Ombre - Sunrise" from Sky & Earth, a rug collection by Nora Chou exclusively for Silk Avenue What was the process of designing Sky & Earth? When I was first approached by Jeff, the managing director of Silk Avenue, to design a rug for their designer profile range, there were many ideas that came to mind. I find rugs often help ground a space by connecting the interior palette of your chosen furnishings or to make a new statement through colour and texture. From an aesthetic perspective it’s quite similar to how paintings interact with spaces. However, rugs add an additional softness into interiors. Sky & Earth came to fruition during the Covid lockdown period. Inspired by the Great Outdoors, it is a rug collection that is all about bringing the colours and textures from nature into our interior spaces. From the get-go, I knew that I wanted to create a collection to include a broad range of designs that would fit within different settings whether it be a traditional country house, or a contemporary set up in a high-rise apartment. During the creative process, I found it important to create a collection that is a family of designs and a continuation of the narrative, allowing me to develop and experiment with the creative direction. The 6 designs from Sky & Earth are captured moments that can be layered into interiors through the hand-picked palettes I have personally selected (“Sunrise”, “Dusk” and Terra”). The designs can also be completely customized to a palette of your choosing. "Dots Play - Dusk" from Sky & Earth, a rug collection by Nora Chou exclusively for Silk Avenue "Spring Buds - Sunrise II" from Sky & Earth, a rug collection by Nora Chou exclusively for Silk Avenue Is there anything else we should know about the rugs? Silk Avenue manufactures the hand-tufted rugs in Nepal and handles all shipping internationally. The designs from Sky & Earth are constructed of various compositions. For example, “Spring Buds” has a composition of 100% hand-tufted wool, which is great for hospitality settings and households with children. Generally speaking, wool is low maintenance, bounces back into its original state after being walked on and is typically less flammable than other fibers. The matte finish of wool also allows the colours of the rug to appear richer and deeper. There are also other designs from the collection with a combination composition of wool and bamboo silk. – “Petals”, “Hydrangea”, “Flow Ombre” “Flow Solid” and “Dots Play”. In these designs certain areas of the rugs are accentuated with bamboo silk and raised pile heights. The slight sheen against the matte background mimics the way light is often reflected through nature and is a play on both texture and surface. "Petals - Dusk" from Sky & Earth, a rug collection by Nora Chou exclusively for Silk Avenue "Hydrangea - Dusk" from Sky & Earth, a rug collection by Nora Chou exclusively for Silk Avenue Do the rugs come in different sizes? All of the designs can be customized to any size to suit your interiors. However, we do have standard sizes with the latest pricing that can be found at: www.norachou.com/collection "Flow Ombre - Sunrise" from Sky & Earth, a rug collection by Nora Chou exclusively for Silk Avenue "Flow Solid - Terra II" from Sky & Earth, a rug collection by Nora Chou exclusively for Silk Avenue How can someone place an order? Send an email to [email protected] and [email protected] specifying the design, size and palette of your choosing. Silk Avenue will guide you through the process from there! Explore the collection Photo Credit: Felix Speller About Nora Chou Luxury Interior Designer based in London with a focus on Residential and Hospitality Design. Working on projects internationally, they offer interior design services including but not limited to project management, space planning, sourcing and creating designs that are custom to every project. Visit Profile If you’d like to feature your product news here, get in touch to find out more. If you’d like to become SBID Accredited, click here for more information.