Decorating With Antique, Vintage, and Modern Rugs
Designer Principles for Today’s Interiors at the Nazmiyal Rug Academy
Last night—January 22, 2026—the Nazmiyal Manhattan showroom felt less like a gallery and more like the kind of spirited design salon New York does best: a room full of curious minds, generous conversation, and the easy electricity that happens when experts start trading real-world insight. The occasion was the second seminar in the Nazmiyal Rug Academy’s inaugural three-part series. It delivered exactly what everyone came for: practical guidance, big ideas, and plenty of laughter along the way.
From the first moments, the mix of guests set the tone: interior designers and architects, collectors and long-time clients, design-focused homeowners, and first-time visitors eager to understand what makes a rug “work” in a room. With conversations clinking and conversations flowing, the evening quickly found its rhythm, warm, energetic, and unmistakably engaged.
A Conversation Led by Designers (and Powered by the Room)
Moderated by Rodolfo Kashanian, the discussion moved with the pace of a great dinner party. It was structured enough to be clear, yet loose enough to let personality and spontaneity shine. Rodolfo kept the through-line focused while giving space for what mattered most: the designers’ lived experience and the audience’s questions.
And the audience showed up ready.
The night was entertaining not just because of the expertise on stage, but how quickly the room became part of the program. Questions came in from every angle: How big is “big enough” in a living room? Can an antique rug live happily in a modern apartment? What do you do when a rug is beautiful but the colors feel “wrong” at first glance? The answers were smart, direct, and often funny, because the best designers are both serious and human.
At the center of it all were two of New York’s most respected voices in decoration:
- Thomas Jayne of Jayne Design Studio
- Glenn Gissler of Glenn Gissler Design
Together, they offered two distinct but highly complementary points of view. One was grounded in material culture and scholarship, while the other in architectural sensitivity and the realities of daily living. The result was an ideal combination of elevated taste, practical application, and advice you could actually use the next morning.
The Big Idea: Rugs Aren’t “Accessories”, They’re Architecture
A theme that surfaced again and again was that rugs don’t simply decorate a room, they organize it.
Scale and Placement: The Fastest Way to Make a Room Feel “Right”
The designers returned repeatedly to proportion. They covered how a rug establishes boundaries, controls circulation, and determines whether furniture feels connected or scattered. The room lit up during the most relatable moments. This included stories of beautiful rooms that felt slightly “off” until the rug was resized or repositioned.
Color: Mood, Light, and the Emotional Temperature of a Space
Color wasn’t discussed as a “matching game”, but instead treated as a tool. It’s something that shapes atmosphere and makes a space feel calmer, brighter, warmer, or more grounded. Antique and vintage rugs particularly were framed as sophisticated palettes with built-in nuance. They’re useful when trying to create harmony without making everything feel overly coordinated.
Mixing Eras: The Confidence Move
One of the most popular threads of the night was how to pair older rugs with clean-lined, contemporary rooms. The takeaway was refreshing, an assurance that mixing eras isn’t a risk when it’s done with intention. A strong rug can add depth, soften hard architecture, and create contrast that feels personal rather than overly stylized.
Why the Nazmiyal Rug Academy Works
The Nazmiyal Rug Academy’s strength is that it’s not theory floating in the abstract. Instead it’s learning, grounded in real objects right in front of you. Being surrounded by museum-quality rugs changes the conversation. You can speak about texture, wool quality, scale, and color, with clarity because everyone can actually see the difference. It’s not in a slide deck, but under the same light you’d live with at home.
The night felt both elevated and approachable. Serious knowledge was delivered with ease and always tied back to what truly matters: how a space is meant to feel.
A Grateful Note from Nazmiyal
Nazmiyal was honored to host such a remarkable evening, especially one defined by curiosity, humor, and genuine connection. Genuine insight provided by outstanding designers to a room full of curious design lovers made it more than a seminar. It became the kind of night you leave energized, already seeing your own rooms differently.
And with the final seminar in the three-part series ahead, the momentum is only building.
