Historically speaking, plush wall-to-wall carpets are a recent
development not much older than electric lights and substantially younger than
yachting’s Golden Age. Well into the 1850s, floors — even in the best homes —
generally consisted of stenciled or polished pine or oak planks topped with
painted canvas floor cloths, straw mats or braided rag rugs.
Floor coverings are a room’s fifth wall,
establishing the theme and providing a tactile experience. Top photograph courtesy Codecasa. Bottom photograph courtesy Edelman Leather. (Click images to enlarge)
Before mechanical looms, every carpet was woven or knotted by
hand in a process relatively unchanged since the 14th century. Expensive and
heavily taxed, rugs often were displayed on walls as works of art. The invention
of steam-powered looms finally brought carpets to the masses. The great
economies of scale made possible by the industrial revolution alsogenerated a
taste for newness.
The Victorians adapted parquetry to floors, often applying it
to a room’s perimeter to act as a border for carpets in tight floral
patterns. Linoleum, made from compressed cork and linseed oil, was a huge
hit in the late 19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, the newest floor
fashion was knotted-weave Axeminster carpets available with changeable,
contrasting borders.
Top: Photograph courtesy Codecasa. Bottom: Photograph courtesy
Edward Fields. (Click images to enlarge)
Despite the great fortunes spent on yachts from the 1890s to
the 1930s, floor fashions lagged behind. Most cabin soles were made of polished
timber dotted with a profusion of kilim or Aubusson-style carpets, which could
be rolled up and stored during a passage. In the drawing rooms of the great
steam yachts, strips of plain pile carpet often were tacked into place to cover
the floor.
Made-to-measure carpets came into vogue for yachts beginning
with the 1950s. It wasn’t until the late 1970s, however, that professional
interior designers started to have an impact on yachts. With them came the view
that floor coverings could be more than neutral ground. Called the "fifth wall,"
carpets established the design theme rather than tying it together. This trend
reached its zenith in the early 1990s with the elaborate, multicolored, carved
pile carpets featuring sparkling fiber-optics laid aboard such yachts as
Octopussy and Night
Crossing.
Top: Photograph by Martin Fine. Bottom: Photograph courtesy Martin Patrick Evan. (Click images to enlarge)
Today, many designers looking for something new in floor
coverings for the finest yachts under construction are mining the past.
"Everything old is new again,’" says Jack Fields, who heads the
custom carpet company launched by his father, Edward Fields. "Today, we have
designers coming in who were born after the seventies and they look at some of
our area rug patterns created forty or fifty years ago by Raymond Lowey and they
are just blown away. They alter a stripe here or a color there, revamping and
refreshing a classic into something perfect for today.
"At the highest levels, there is always a competition for
uniqueness. These are customers who want something different and we try to
create a fantasy look for them," says Jack Fields.
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