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Patty Studios’ Debut Rug Collection is a Fantasy of Florals and Geometrics

The debut rug collection by Patty Studios was shot and styled by Assemble Collective inside two moody Pacific Northwest residences.

When they launched their Portland interiors firm in 2021, Pat Austin Studiofounders Ally Hasche and Candace Cohu already knew they wanted to eventually bring their friend Max Pluenneke into the fold to create a rug line together — the designer had spent many years working for his grandfather, who emigrated from Iran in the 1940s and ran a Persian rug restoration business in Kansas City. Pluenneke joined the firm as studio director in 2022, and the trio immediately began scheming to create the rug brand Patty, a passion project whose designs stem from “a love of architecture and a love of outdoors,” according to Cohu.

Patty’s first collection — handmade in Nepal — ranges from minimal geometric grids that would surely receive Agnes Martin’s stamp of approval, to mystical florals that could’ve been lifted from Millais’s Ophelia. Much of the inspiration, however, came from the rustic architecture and bucolic gardens in the South of France (see below). For their launch campaign, the trio decided to celebrate those far-flung influences while grounding the collection in the Pacific Northwest context in which it was conceived, photographing it in iconic modernist interiors in Portland. Shoots directed and styled by Assemble Collective leaned into the distinctive, moody PNW aesthetic, using a 1970s wood-paneled residence and a split-level home by the late architect James Miller as atmospheric settings. The collection launched through Portland retailer Spartan Shop, with new vendors also on the horizon.

From Provence to the Pacific Northwest—the Patty Studios Mood Board

Details from the Patty Studios inspiration trip to the South of France.

A group trip in 2023 to the South of France — a region that’s made a lasting impression on artists and creatives for centuries — became a living mood board for Patty’s debut collection. “We were in this small town called Gassin, which sits on the top of a hill and is very historic and special,” says Hasche. “Walking around the little streets, there was so much architectural inspiration in things like the roofline details.” In both Gassin and nearby Cassis, the trio photographed seemingly insignificant yet beautiful flourishes like scalloped archways and roof soffits, leaf-like window bars, and even a historic carousel. They also visited many of the area’s wild, verdant gardens, like L’Hardy-Denonain.

Upon their return to Portland, the designers revisited everything they’d seen while dreaming up patterns for the rugs. The layered, wavy lines of the soffits become tonal borders for La Belle, while Rue (below left) turns decorative tiling seen flanking the doorway of a building into a mid-century-style repeat. The When You Were a Tulip (below right) rug features a checker motif — spotted on the side of a Provençal house — that frames a striped interior peppered with abstract florals. Perhaps the most expressive is Elysium, which is covered in small, delicate blooms that transport the life and warmth of a French garden into any room, anywhere.

Get to Know Pat Austin Studio, Who Delight in Color and Texture

Top: Detail from a 2023 Seattle renovation by Pat Austin Studio. Bottom: The moody living room of a Portland project in progress.

After working together for several years at another firm, Hasche and Cohu joined forces to found Pat Austin Studio in 2021, focusing primarily on residential projects. Both art majors who transitioned into interiors, the pair share a flair for storytelling, starting with the name of their studio, which pays homage to the wife of prolific British rose breeder David Austin. “He bred the first bright-coral rose in her honor, because she was this beautiful artist and a woman in her community that everyone loved,” said Cohu.

In each of their completed interior projects to date, the duo inject personality through considered applications of materials and colors. Dramatic stone varieties repeat across tables, basins, and counters, and limited palettes of bold hues are incorporated sparingly but effectively into otherwise neutral spaces in the forms of art, textiles, and paintwork. At a Brooklyn brownstone, teal, crimson, and rust tones are applied in different levels of intensity in each room, while inside an English cottage-style home in Portland, dark wood paneling contrasts blue-gray marble flecked orange in key areas. Another residence in Seattle features a fieldstone-wrapped fireplace that creates a 1970s feel in a living area, where touches of red contemporize the space, and pale blue accents in the bathroom do the same.

Sightseeing… In and Around Portland, Oregon

Portland-specific modernism is known as the Northwest Regional Style, and it’s often defined by its relationship to the natural landscape and use of local materials. (If we lived in the area, we’d be keeping a close eye on this Instagram.) Here are Patty Studios’ four top spots in the area for modernist architecture lovers. Clockwise from top left:

1. The Watzek House 
“John Yeon was a Portland-based architect that we all really admire. His 1937 Watzek House is designed in a thoughtful U-shaped layout that allows views of Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens, and creates an interior garden at its entrance. It cascades effortlessly down the natural slope of the landscape, which is echoed with painstaking detail and warmth in the millwork on the walls and ceilings. A truly special and expert example of bringing the outdoors in.”

2. The Gordon House
“We love having a Frank Lloyd Wright home accessible from the Portland area. The material palette selections tie in the outside landscape, while the special transom windows and the layout of the 1963 structure directly connect with the exterior, so to experience the house feels serenely natural.”

3. St. Joseph’s Medical Center
“We’ve been working up in Tacoma for the last couple of years on a project with Pat Austin, and St. Joseph’s is our favorite landmark to arrive at when we get into town. It towers above everything around it, but feels soft and delicate with its undulating curves, porthole windows, and bright-white facade. If you look at aerial views of the building, designed by Bertrand Goldberg in 1975, it’s actually shaped like a clover, which, again, blends the natural and built worlds.”

4. Portland Japanese Garden
“This is a must for a beautiful fall or spring weekend activity in Portland. The garden itself is so serene and captures all of the PNW seasons so beautifully. The Japanese-inspired 1960s architecture, with contemporary additions by Kengo Kuma, create this holistic interactive experience where it really feels like nature and design are in sync.”

Shopping… In Portland, Oregon

Ceramics by Addison Woolsley at Spartan Shop in Portland, Oregon.

Portland’s retail scene is legend, anchored by two independent boutiques known by design and fashion insiders across America. Here, the Pat Austin team offer their best shopping recs for vintage furniture stores, art galleries, independent clothing boutiques, and more.

Wilma
Excellent appointment-only vintage store, run by Annie Brett, carrying hard-to-find items like a pair of brown leather Otto Zapf armchairs, and a slew of Swedish Röllakan rugs.

Nationale
An emerging art space and bookshop run by May Barruel, Nationale has an excellent curatorial program that features several former Sight Unseen subjects, including Francesca Capone and Emily Counts.

Lowell
In need of a sterling silver butter knife, inset with sapphires, or a sperm-shaped lapel pin? This craft-focused shop in the Hawthorne District has you covered.

Seven Sisters
Independent clothing and home boutique featuring women-owned brands, including Dusen Dusen, Sophie Lou Jacobsen, Kowtow, Kara Yoo, and Maria Stanley. Also the best place in Portland to pick up socks by Le Bon Shoppe!

Hiyu Wine Farm
A 30-acre biodynamic winery and working farm in the Hood River Valley — one of the best places to buy the PNW’s most exuberant wines — Hiyu also has a tavern featuring ingredients grown or foraged on-site.

Spartan Shop
The legendary Portland showroom and gallery, run by Currie Person, is in the back pocket of every in-the-know design person across the country, thanks to a robust e-comm presence, an enviable roster of independent designers, and exclusive drops by beloved artists like ceramicist Shane Gabier. It’s even better to visit in person.

Phloem
Showroom and gallery featuring a selection of books, textiles, ceramics, and art, as well as furniture made by Phloem founder Benjamin Klebba with his father Ron at Phloem’s wood shop on the banks of the Columbia River.

Frances May
The greatest independent boutique in Portland, and one of the best in the biz period, Frances May is the place to snag all of your favorite labels for men and women: Think gingham hobo crossbody bags by Coming of Age, shearling and nylon bombers from Eckhaus Latta, pinstriped velvet pants from A Kind of Guise, digitally printed dresses by Anntian, Clarks desert boots, and more.