Paola Vilas recently released a collection that takes Peggy Guggenheim and her extraordinary 20th-century art collection as its muse. But in general, Vilas mines a rich vein of Modernist art references, especially Surrealism, for the motifs and curving shapes of her pieces — named for artists like Arp, Brancusi, Gilot, Matisse, and Klee, to name just a few.

Growing up in the '90s in Switzerland, Nadja Stäubli always had an analog camera with her. "I ended up studying photography at the University of Arts in Switzerland, and, for my thesis project, I wanted to work with a different medium then simple photography," explains the founder of the cult-favorite rug company Schoenstaub. Stäubli dug around to find a high-density weaving machine that could translate the grain of her 35mm film into knots on a rug, and, through family connections, ended up finding the only one that could do it in the world. The idea was to produce a single carpet for a gallery; it was such a success, Stäubli decided to turn the enterprise into a full-fledged company.