Continuing with our series in which we explore various applications of Lapchi carpets in today’s home furnishing environments, this month we turn our attention to Rosemary, a Transitional Botanical pattern.

The aromatic herb rosemary has been associated with the Greek Goddess Mnemosyne and through her, the human rituals of life, death, rebirth and memory. In the age before the written word, Mnemosyne’s gift to mankind was to name everything in the world, enabling collective reasoning, recognition of the past, the present, and the memory of all.

The Greek name Rosmarinus means “dew of the sea.” The Goddess Aphrodite, a personification of love, beauty, rapture and the mother of all living beings, rose from the sea adorned by a wreath of rosemary and myrtle. Because of this mythical association, rosemary was considered an aphrodisiac, traditionally worked into bridal wreaths, strewn about as a carpet for every nuptial pair, and planted by newly wed couples as a good omen. If you were tapped by a flowering rosemary sprig, true love would be yours.
In England, churches were adorned with rosemary in honor of the divine ability to protect and save one from evil. Rosemary sprigs were placed under pillows to prevent nightmares and hung in doorways and windows to safeguard homes. The narrative “Rose of Mary” tells of Mary being sheltered by a rosemary bush while escaping into Egypt. Mary threw her cape over the white flowers of rosemary turning them blue – a color forever associated with Mary.
Like the plant is so gracefully represents, Lapchi’s Rosemary simple and elegant in appearance, is more than just a decorative surface, it is a part of a cultural heritage made visible.
Transitional Botanicals
A visual spark is created when objects and design influences from divergent places or historical influences are brought together.
The term “Transitional Design” can be applied to individual objects, as well as the juxtaposition of two provocative objects in space. To design in a “transitional” manner is to be able to see contemporary possibilities in the traditional, rewriting history with fresh eyes. Transitional carpets and transitional decor blend and contrast the time honored and the contemporary, shifting the visual ingredients to balance elements of the past and present equally.
The Lapchi botanical patterns Arrowroot, Belle Leaves, Thalia and Rosemary have roots in the past. Freshly interpreted by Lapchi, they bring transitional qualities to classically inspired interiors.
Within contemporary interiors, botanical Transitional patterns provide serene and subtle organic contrast to edgy or geometric furnishings.
Lapchi Transitional Botanicals Arrowroot, Thalia, Belle Leaves and Rosemary