elson & company was founded with three core values – an emphasis on working with top design talent, producing a premier product and being a philanthropic member of the community. This last concept is what led company founder Diane Elson Bankoff to join RugMark as one of its early U.S. supporters.

Diane founded elson & company in 1997, and today the company is made up of two women in the U.S., numerous showrooms and over 100 people in Nepal and India. Over the past nine years, elson & company has exhibited work at the Tibet House Gallery in New York City, LIMN gallery in San Francisco, and the Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in Chicago. In 2000, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art purchased three rugs from Tibetan Modern: The Architects Collection, for its permanent collection. The year 2001 brought a joint project with graphic designer and art director Fabien Baron and Cappellini.

elson & company was created with the vision of fusing the finest quality hand-knotted Tibetan rugs with the endless possibilities of sophisticated design. Professional designers translate innovative visions into individual works of art. Contributing designers include Fabien Baron; San Francisco-based graphic artist Rex Ray; fabric designers Lulu de Kwiatkowski and Kathryn Ireland; architect Steven Holl; Oscar de la Renta; and founder, Diane Elson Bankoff.

Artisans in Katmandu are masters of traditional Tibetan weaving techniques that reflect the rich heritage of the craft. elson & company’s collections embrace the harmony between the established art form of Tibetan and dhurrie weaving and the endless possibilities of sophisticated design.

In October 2003 elson & company completed a collection of rugs called Fashion Underfoot, created by top fashion designers including Narciso Rodriguez, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Reed Krakoff of Coach, Richard Lambertson / John Truex, and Robert Lee Morris. The Fashion Underfoot collection was a natural outgrowth of the company’s values. 

From each designer’s initial sketch, elson & company worked as both advisor and liaison between the team of Tibetan weavers and the fashion designers, assisting in all aspects of the production, from wool color selection to sample production, to finished product. The Fashion Underfoot carpets were exhibited in New York and 10 percent of the proceeds benefited the Ovarian cancer research Fund and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Fashion Targets Breast Cancer initiative.

In the fall of 2004 elson & company released an exciting new line of Tibetan carpets and dhurries designed by Oscar de la Renta. The collection ranges from Mr. de la Renta’s signature florals to his timeless geometrics. For elson & company, working with the team at Oscar de la Renta to translate his ideas into a new medium has been both inspiring and a pleasure. The collaboration, in tandem with de la Renta’s remarkable designs, is what makes the offering of Tibetan and dhurrie rugs unique. The collection provides designs and color choices that will complement a broad spectrum of home environments. Projects with other design professionals are underway.

All elson & company carpets are made of high-altitude Himalayan wool and hand-knotted in Nepal. Our dhurries are handmade in India.

For more information visit www.elsoncompany.com.

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