What’s on your FLOR? Whatever you want!

by Anthony Mastracci
April 7, 2016

My totally custom FLOR rug; right from my brain. Photo: © TNG

Last month I was invited to the grand opening of FLOR, a rug company, in their Burlington, Mass. location. Typically, a rug isn’t something that’ll get a crowd going, but FLOR doesn’t make your typical rug.

In fact, FLOR doesn’t make a rug larger than 19.7-inches on any side. “What the hell does this mean?” you might wonder. All rugs are comprised of smaller, 19.7-inch carpet squares, that hold together with special stickers called “FLOR Dots.” All finished rugs can follow the pre-designed model or a totally customized rug-masterpiece right from your own imagination.

Carpet Mosaic for FLOR Burlington by Rene Gagnon. Photo: © TNG

The first thing I saw as I walked in the door was this beautiful carpet square mosaic created by well-known Boston graffiti/street artist, Rene Gagnon (see his work here), made entirely out of FLOR carpet squares. The Gagnon original hangs in the Burlington store front to exemplify just how customizable a rug can be.

Wandering through the store, I began to see the endless possibilities when thinking up a custom rug. On one wall hung a beautiful, purple, yellow, red, and orange color-blocked rug that resembled a high-fashion printed fabric. Another wall had an artfully sophisticated pre-designed rug on it that was just a really clean look for anywhere.

The floor was blasted with carpet pieces cut and sized in every way imaginable. At a corner in one rug, there was a converging of five different pieces of carpet. It’s absurd, but it looks so damn cool. To think that you can pick out whatever kind of carpet colors, patterns, and textures you like and make them one single thing is very sexy.

A cluster of custom carpet at FLOR Burlington. Photo: © TNG

I ended up returning a few days later to get sexy like that and made a small FLOR rug for my living room with help from the store manager, who was very knowledgeable and a wonderful designer. I told him the colors I wanted to work with, the textures I was interested in, and the shapes I wanted to make, and he showed me multiple options for my specifications.

In about one week, I had my box of carpet squares, which were factory-cut for me, arrive at my doorstep. After a quick and easy assembly, I had this neat looking rug (top) that seemed as if it had popped right out of my brain!

I also snagged a couple extra carpet squares while I was there for non-carpeting needs. Some of the carpet squares work perfectly for lay-flat shots while photographing! The textures and patterns can add a ton of depth to an otherwise boring photo.