Stark Carpet

Stark Carpet has been the address for luxury carpet and rugs in American interior design for nearly nine decades. Founded in 1938 by Arthur and Nadia Stark, the company built its reputation by importing the great European broadlooms and hand-knotted Persian and Oriental rugs that defined post-war American luxury homes, and by working to-the-trade with the country's leading interior designers. The flagship D&D Building showroom on East 58th Street in Manhattan remains one of the most visited rug and carpet showrooms in the world, and Stark today operates more than thirty showrooms across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France, with a sister wholesale division supplying designers and architects globally.

The Stark Family of Brands

Stark today is a family of complementary brands rather than a single line. The flagship Stark Carpet collection covers the hand-knotted, hand-tufted, and hand-loomed area-rug categories, along with custom-program broadloom in wool, silk, viscose, and bamboo silk blends. The brochures in this category — Antique Reimagined and the Stark Studio Rugs Winter collection — showcase the house's most-requested patterns and constructions, including the Antique Reimagined program that re-issues classic Persian, Oushak, and European designs in modern color palettes and contemporary sizes. The Naturally Timeless brochure focuses on the natural-fiber lineup of sisal, jute, abaca, and wool blends that have become the foundation of modern coastal, traditional, and transitional interiors.

Designer Collaborations

Stark's collaborations are the most-discussed releases in the rug industry each year. The ongoing Missoni Home partnership, founded with Rosita Missoni and now stewarded by Angela Missoni, translates the Missoni fashion house's signature zigzag, fiammato, and patchwork patterns into hand-knotted and tufted area rugs — covered in the Missoni Home 2021 brochure and the Missoni Home Fall 2024 collection release. Ashley Stark Home, founded by third-generation Stark family member Ashley Stark Kenner, brings the family carpet expertise to a direct-to-consumer rug and home-decor program with a refined, design-forward retail aesthetic. The SSR x Rug Star collaboration with Berlin-based designer Jürgen Dahlmanns translates one of the most-collected contemporary rug designers' work into the Stark trade catalog. Past collaborations have also included Madeline Weinrib, Anya Larkin, and Ralph Lauren — establishing the pattern of a Stark showroom as the place where high-fashion and high-design rug worlds converge.

Craftsmanship and Construction

The Stark catalogs cover the full range of premium rug constructions. Hand-knotted rugs — the most labor-intensive technique in the industry — are made on traditional looms by master weavers in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran, and Tibet, with knot counts ranging from 60 knots per square inch for chunky tribal patterns to 300+ knots per square inch for fine silk-blend traditionals. Hand-tufted rugs offer the design depth and pile variety of hand-knotted construction at a more accessible price point, with the same wool, silk, and bamboo-silk yarn options. Flatweave and hand-loomed constructions — including the Tibetan flatweaves, kilim-style geometric panels, and the Belgian-style hand-loomed jacquards — round out the range. Custom programs allow any Stark pattern to be sized, colored, and constructed to a designer's exact specification, with most custom rugs delivered in twelve to sixteen weeks.

Stark Performance

The Stark Performance brochure introduces the machine-washable performance rug line that Stark launched in response to the family-friendly and pet-friendly rug demand that has reshaped the residential rug category. The Performance line uses solution-dyed and stain-resistant fibers in patterns drawn from the Stark archive, delivering the Stark aesthetic in constructions that can survive children, pets, and high-traffic interiors — including indoor-outdoor applications.

Sustainable and Natural-Fiber Programs

The Naturally Timeless brochure focuses on the natural-fiber rug category — sisal, jute, seagrass, abaca, and wool blends sourced from sustainable farming operations. These rugs anchor the foundation layer of most modern American interior schemes (layered area rugs over wall-to-wall sisal is a Stark signature) and the brochure covers texture, weave, binding, and edging options across the natural-fiber program.

Working with Stark

Stark Carpet is a to-the-trade-only house — its products are sold exclusively through interior designers, architects, and authorized trade dealers. Homeowners browse the Stark brochures to identify patterns and lines they want to specify, then work with a trade professional or visit one of the thirty-plus Stark showrooms to place the order. The Ashley Stark Home line is the one exception — it operates as a direct-to-consumer retail brand with online ordering — and it brings the broader Stark design sensibility to a wider audience. Whether you are spec'ing a designer-led residential project, planning a hospitality install, or shopping for a single statement area rug, the Stark catalogs collected here are the right starting point for understanding the depth and range of the Stark family of brands.

Free Stark Catalogs by Mail

All Stark Carpet brochures listed here can be browsed online as digital catalogs or requested as printed brochures sent free by mail. The hand-knotted and Missoni Home brochures carry the most production-quality printed photography in the residential rug category — worth requesting in print form when planning a serious rug-led design project or a multi-room install.