Alison Rose’s fondest childhood memories were spent wandering the back halls of the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, watching in delight as ornate costumes and gigantic tapestries were repaired under microscopes. “It was a dream land of magic,” says Rose. “It felt like I was inside the vignettes as they came to life around me.” Those experiences imparted an acute attention to detail, as well as invaluable lessons in observation—skills she flexes with gusto at her eponymous New York City interiors firm. (And on her must-follow Instagram, which offers a daily dose of the dramatic design work that most inspires her.)
She still spends quality time in the museums’ inner sanctums. “On my last visit to the Met, I joined some curators to explore needlepoints they had just received.” This time, however, she wasn’t honing in on her childhood curiosities—she was conducting research for her first-ever product collaboration. “I was studying the fibers, construction, and deconstruction of the textiles,” says Rose, “and translating these microscopic findings into a geometric rhythm, referencing architectural shapes and functions in a Modernist format.”
Thus birthed Euclid, an unapologetically bold waterjet collection for Artistic Tile. Named after the father of geometry, Euclid encompasses four distinct geometric shapes that use an array of classic stones from European quarries, such as Bianco Carrara, Vanilla Onyx, and Verde Aurora. Each individual piece can be arranged in a variety of layouts, making the possibilities for the pattern’s constituent parts virtually endless. “Euclid is basically my alphabet—set units designed to work together in an infinite number of ways,” says Rose, nodding to the Bauhaus movement’s playful juxtaposition of geometric patterns.
Euclid’s strength lies not only within its striking range of patterns and colorways, but the tight-knit bond shared between both parties. As Rose spoke on a panel about designing for millennials (“Treat them like anyone else,” she recommends), Artistic Tile’s CEO Nancy Epstein sat in the audience, mesmerized by her charisma, confidence, and breadth of curiosity. Teaming up for a collection, it turns out, was a natural next step—Rose had been designing custom patterns through Artistic Tile for years, dating back to her tenure working for hospitality guru Alexandra Champalimaud. And according to Rose, the process couldn’t have gone more smoothly.
“Disruption of ‘the process’ is when the magic really happens,” says Rose, who admits that bringing other creatives into the mix helps her thrive. We already anticipate an encore.
