In 1997, Joseph Carini founded his carpet company, Carini, which is renowned for crafting unique, high-quality carpets that blend artistic inspiration with ethical and environmental principles. Committed to sustainability, Carini uses natural materials and avoids harmful chemicals to minimize its ecological footprint. Each carpet, made with worldly natural dyes and hand-processed materials, is designed to last a lifetime. Carini ensures exceptional quality through meticulous in-house production and collaborates with top designers and clients for bespoke solutions. Their clientele includes A-list celebrities and design aficionados who appreciate Carini’s distinctive, authentic style. Each carpet is a vibrant canvas, enriching spaces with intention and soulful presence. See these designs in today’s Maker Monday.
Aquarium Pink
Andrew Joseph: How do you stay creative and inspired?
Joseph Carini: I listen to my inner whispers and very faint voices from my deep subconscious. I try to stay open to the unexpected during the design process and look out for favorable accidents.
AJ: Can you describe your design philosophy in three words?
JC: Authentic, soulful, and timeless.
Blue Tabriz
AJ: What’s the weirdest thing a client has ever asked you?
JC: A very good friend and client of mine was working on a very large estate with an incredible house, and she came in with an interesting request… She informed me the family loves animals and their carpet would need to accommodate their beloved pet pig. The concern was that its hooves would cause too much wear on our fine carpets. Needless to say, somewhere out there, a pig is sleeping on a beautiful Carini carpet.
AJ: How do you approach a new design project?
JC: With great fear and respect. I gather information about the project and the client, and I try to channel them to serve the project. The clients’ temperament, their psyche, and their values influence my approach. I honor the needs of the project and the zeitgeist of the room. I gather the feel for the chosen architecture, art and furniture, light, function and orientation of the room. Is the carpet the star of the room or a supporting role? It doesn’t matter as long as it is contributing and serving to the effect that the client and designer want the room to embody.
Carini’s master weavers working on a 30+ foot carpet in Nepal.
AJ: How do you incorporate sustainability into your designs?
JC: The root of my passion for carpet making started with natural materials. In part, I was always thinking about sustainability, but it happened naturally through my own process. I use raw materials that I have sourced as far back to the origin as possible. We hand process all these materials and use traditional practices wherever possible, such as vegetable dye for color and organic soap for washing. It is important to me to maintain a light footprint throughout production by avoiding chemicals and industrial machinery. I regard my work as a form of a cultural heritage project as well as creating the most organic product I can.
AJ: If you weren’t a designer, what would you be and why?
JC: If I weren’t a designer, I would be a dealer in fine art or a musician. I would deal in art because I am attracted to handling beautiful things or I would be a musician because music is like a spiritual doorway into another world for me.
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