Colin King Has Been Named Artistic Director-at-Large at Beni Rugs

BusinessColin King Has Been Named Artistic Director-at-Large at Beni RugsThe stylist and budding product designer offers his take on Moroccan rugs, helping the brand explore new avenues while expanding his own professional repertoire

By Tim Nelson

May 19, 2022

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At this point, there are hardly enough hyphens to describe everything Colin King is capable of. An interior stylist who’s worked with chart-topping stars, major brands, and a plethora of publications (including AD’s January issue), King calls on his classical dance training to gracefully arrange spaces, creating a conversation through the careful curation and placement of otherwise inanimate design objects. Now, he’s adding yet another title to his lengthy résumé: artistic director-at-large of Beni Rugs.

King’s keen styling eye was what first attracted the attention of Beni Rugs cofounder Robert Wright, who slid into the stylist’s Instagram DMs in 2018 to enlist his expertise. Soon thereafter, King signed on to style the handwoven Moroccan rug brand’s first big shoot in Marrakech, an experience that he says “really broadened my perspective as far as what can be done creatively.”

In that moment, a fruitful ongoing partnership was born. King would go on to style another Beni shoot in Tangier, launch a colorful rug collection of his own, and design the brand’s Apartment showroom in New York. Now, King has put a label on the relationship with Beni by serving in his new official role.

Colin King, Beni Rugs’ new artistic director-at-large.

Photo: Nicole Franzen

“This whole process felt intuitive and quite smooth,” King tells AD PRO of the partnership. “I think our combined experience is a lot more interesting than a singular point of view, and they really gave me the freedom to dream big.” 

In this new role, King will release three distinct collections for Beni over the course of the year, each of which aims to expand the visual language of the Moroccan rug while showcasing a reverence for the traditional techniques and materials that define the time-honored craft. Spoken Lines, which draws inspirations from Piero Portaluppi’s rationalist architecture as well as the patterns and colors of Milan’s entryways and foyers, will be his first.

Fitting for a line designed by a modern renaissance man, King’s first collection will be a true multimedia affair. In addition to working with women-led, London-based Studio Frith to create a film of the collection, Spoken Lines will debut at Salone del Mobile alongside the work of Moroccan textile artist Amine El Gotaibi.

The Spoken Lines collection will debut on May 25 and will be on display at Salone del Mobile in June.

Photo: Adrian Gaut

To King, the broad scope of this launch is a byproduct of the freedom that comes with his new position. Rather than designing a product line and moving on, the creative says he is able to to experiment and learn.

“We learned so much during this shoot that we can then apply to the next one without changing collaborators,” he says. “We’re all evolving together and using that experience to help us with the next two collections.”

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Just as King sees the engagement as an opportunity to evolve, he also sees benefits for Beni that could end up outlasting his engagement with the brand. Specifically, he observed that his outsider’s approach to designing Moroccan rugs has pushed the boundaries of what Beni’s team of Marrakech-based weavers can accomplish from their newly opened studio.

“When I first started working with them, there were a lot of limitations in terms of the intricacies of design their weavers were capable of,” King recalls. “With this next collection, it’s night and day the amount of line work and diagonals we’re able to use.”

Even as a frequent professional multitasker, King recognizes the value of unstructured time with “nothing to do but explore and stay curious.” But he’s just as quick to acknowledge the value that this kind of professional partnership can have for a stylist or designer who’s hungry to expand their horizons.

“I only really learn what I love or what isn’t working by trying things,” he says. “I never imagined where I’d be now, and I know I have to keep making and keep creating, and it’ll lead me to wherever I’m supposed to go.”