How Kate Daskalakis Uses Vintage Rugs as the Foundation for Interiors

We have long been admirers of Kate’s work and always look forward to opportunities to collaborate. Recently, we invited her to the showroom to preview a new batch of antique and vintage rugs and to talk about all things design. When she walked in carrying bags filled with accessories, swatches, and samples, we knew immediately it was going to be a fun afternoon. 

We headed straight to the stacks of rugs we had set aside for her, and the first piece to catch her eye was an antique Bijar. Almost immediately, she began unpacking the contents of her bags, building a flat-lay vignette directly on top of the rug to demonstrate how she develops ideas for a space. As antique artwork, fabric swatches, samples, metal hardware, and small decorative objects began to layer across the rug’s surface, the feeling of a room started to take shape before our eyes.

Kate has such a distinctive point of view, and this rug checked all the boxes for the foundation of a KSD Designs project—it looked like it could easily belong in one of her clients’ homes. The flat lays she created were stunning, filled with patterns that worked beautifully together, often in the most unexpected ways. When we asked, "when does mixing so many patterns, prints, and styles become too much?", she laughed and said, “You’re asking the wrong person!”

Clients hire her because she loves mixing patterns. Even when working within a neutral palette, she looks for ways to “create something you’re not going to see in your neighbor’s house.” She might pull a neutral wallpaper with just a hint of green that quietly echoes the tones in the rug. Solids, stripes, and block prints get layered together. She also encourages clients to lean into wool—not just for its sophistication, but for its durability.

“Working with rugs that already carry multiple tones,” she explains, “makes it easier to play with color. They give you permission to explore. They become the palette.” Her philosophy is simple: “When mixing style, lean in. Edit thoughtfully, yes—but don’t hold back out of fear.”