Josh and Lindsey Graziano
New England Loom also makes accessories like shoes and bags.
Like many things in life, it all started with love. After years of styling Wayfair sets, Lindsey Graziano learned the importance of vintage rugs and wanted nothing more than an antique Persian runner at her 2016 wedding. With a small collection of rugs left over from the big day, Graziano decided to sell them on Instagram. They were quickly snatched up, and five years and 51,000 followers later, Graziano and her husband Josh now spend their days scouring New England and beyond to curate their very own vintage rug shop: New England Loom (newenglandloom.com). Now, the company has now evolved into a storefront in Wenham featuring an expanded selection including not only vintage rugs but intricately patterned shoes, bags, benches, pillows and more. Think kilim mules and vibrant rug-wrapped benches—sustainably handcrafted in Turkey from damaged or flawed fragments of vintage rugs. Graziano credits Instagram as foundational to her business, using the platform and her large following to debut new rugs and product drops. Here, she takes us through her process and viral brand.
A rug fragment-wrapped bench.
What makes vintage rugs so valuable? When you buy a vintage or antique rug, you are buying a piece of floor art. Each little medallion, flower, animal or character in each rug meant something to that weaver and tells a story. Everything from the designs down to the way the rug was hand dyed is something that can never be replicated by a machine.
What would you say you love most about vintage rugs? The durability. You are investing in something that won’t depreciate and that you’ll have for years, if not your lifetime. Most of the ones that we sell have been around for over 100 years, and they still look good as new. It can have the same value, if not more, once you go to sell it in 10 to 20 years.
Last month, New England Loom released a spring collection of flats and mules made from rug fragments with seasonal pastel colors PHOTO BY AUTUMN AGUIAR PHOTO
Why do you think the style of vintage rugs appeals to people over more typical, understated pieces? I think they’re just so unique. You could stare at your antique rug for weeks on end and see something different every single time. You just can’t make rugs like that with the machine—it has to be by hand. It’s just crazy when you look at the amount of detail that goes into it; it just adds so much texture and history and design to a space.
How can buyers be sure they’ve found the perfect vintage rug for them? I’m a firm believer in “when you know, you know” with rugs and always encourage customers to wait until they find the one that they can’t stop thinking about. And when that time comes and if you are able, grab it! Because you know you will never see exactly the same one again. We feel really confident promising customers that they will see something new in it every day and never grow tired of it.
The shoes give handwoven rugs a second life
What are your big hopes for the future of New England Loom? I think hopes and dreams-wise, I’d love to eventually expand our storefront, whether that’s keeping the store as it is now or having a larger one with a photography space. We would love to eventually have a photography studio that people can come to where we can stage them with a bed or with a couch or with a coffee table, so they can really get a feel for how they might look in their own home.
