Selecting a carpet for a cruise ship interior can be challenging. There are many factors to consider, from ensuring it is IMO certified and sustainable design certified, to balancing aesthetics and durability. On top of that, when sourcing carpet suppliers for cruise ships, designers and outfitters need to know the correct terminology to correctly communicate their brief. To aid with this, Cruise Ship Interiors Expo Europe’s latest media partner, The Carpet Council, has launched a brand new glossary of carpet terms on their web site.

The Carpet Council is a carpet and rug resource site for designers and cruise professionals who are seeking to improve their cruise ship interior design knowledge. Their business aim is to promote education and learning within the cruise industry. To learn more about The Carpet Council and its carpet glossary, we spoke with the company’s co-founders, Hannah Rogers and Jonathan Young.

How did you start The Carpet Council?

“We set up The Carpet Council as our collective, 60 years experience in the carpet industry has enabled us to develop skills and knowledge that we think will help interior designers with the sometimes old and complex terminology that exists in our trade.

Glossary screenshot from The Carpet Council's website
The Carpet Council’s glossary of carpet terms

It all started quite accidentally when we got chatting to David Lee Hood from Goddard Littlefair about his new venture Quado. We were talking about creating a carpet ‘glossary’, a list of words and terms that would be accessible to Interior Designers and help to explain the terminology that is often used though not understood.

So, the web site started with the glossary page and snow balled from there… we thought, well that’s the basics… we really should create a page about carpet design, carpet types and copyright…. We thought by promoting education and learning about carpet and rugs for all market sectors, we would be helping designers and architects understand how to develop the optimum specification for specific environments. Effectively, The Carpet Council want to provide a platform to help the specifying community select carpets and rugs that are “Fit for Purpose”. 

What makes the Carpet Council unique?

Many manufacturers offer CPD’s and presentations that educate designers and architects about carpets and rugs. But, they are often tailored in favour of the products and companies they represent and given that both of us are working independently we knew we could offer advice and guidance without any influences and therefore provide solutions based on our own experiences. The web site is a resource for designers and architects and covers a comprehensive list of topics including yarn types, installation, maintenance, and of course the glossary of carpet terms. The web site is still a work in progress and in the future, we’ll be adding pages on installation, certification, specification and sustainability.

This information has been compiled (slowly) by us in collaboration with various companies within the industry, who we are so grateful to and have credited them on the site too. In order to promote the independence of the web site we are not encouraging sponsorship as we do want this to be collaborative and voluntary. 

We are looking forward to sharing our PowerPoint “Fit for Purpose” presentation with design firms to help increase their knowledge and understanding, which we’ve done a couple of times so far. The carpet industry has such a rich and interesting history and we both enjoy sharing our love of it.”


Want more of this?

Check out the Cruise Ship Interiors (CSI) Design Expo Europe blog for more design insights and the latest industry updates. CSI Design Expo Europe is a specialised conference and exhibition catered exclusively to the European cruise interior design industry, with a unique focus on Europe’s luxury ocean, river, and expedition cruising. The next event will be taking place on 4 – 5 December 2024 alongside the Sustainable Design Summit at Excel London.

Register for your free pass here