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'That Rug' & When Does Over Exposure Become Overkill?

Becky Goddard
Mar 20, 2017
3 min read

Has anyone else noticed this Beni Ourain rug or different variations of it around A LOT lately? The design is a good amount of ethnic (by that I mean not too hippy, but slightly bohemian, soft doesn't look too brand new), it is fairly neutral and could potential work with a variety of decoration and furniture styles. The dirty creamy white with the loose line of a diamond grid pattern in black adds interest but don't overwhelm. I think it looks good against a wooden floor, sea grass, or a neutral carpet. The versatility of this rug is key to it's success. And I mentioned it is everywhere by that I mean, everywhere in my selected followings on Instagram and in glossy interiors magazines.

So who designed this rug and where can it be purchased? Traditional Beni Ourain rugs are handwoven with wool in Morocco's Atlas mountains by the Berber tribes. There are now so many versions and variations of this rug (that are not necessarily so Moroccan) . Anthropologie had one, John Lewis have their own version, (larger scale diamonds more faded), popular homewares American retailer Pottery Barn also has their own take on it... as always I could list more examples. Needless to say that this has become a very popular style.

Currently social media users are uploading and sharing so many photos, we have a faster insight into other people's lives and homes which undoubtably contributes towards my personal exposure of this particular Beni Ourain rug. However, I have mixed feelings about declaring something as 'over killed', 'over exposed', 'overdone' or 'tired'. I will try and break my thought process and reasoning down as follows:

-Firstly if it was 'overkilled' initially it would have been very successful and popular; so that is a clearly a good thing.

-Then perhaps either the company kept making more and selling more (to make money, who can blame them), or alternatively if they stopped making the item as the sales peaked (fear of overexposure or been known only for that item) then competitors imitated it - completely not their fault and happens far too frequently.

-But it is when, who and how long the design is copied for is where I believe the damage can be done to the original. For instance if Primark home are churning out a Beni Ourain cheap imitation made with Polyester fibres with the wrong proportions and in harsher colours for the next 5 years. With it is going in every other home, that unfortunately makes the design look tired. The immitator has cheapened the inspiration into something for high volume.

My own most recent experience with over exposure wasn't with the Beni Ourain rug. It was with a blue patterned coat from Zara I purchased last April before I went traveling. I saw it a few times, immediately liked it and justified the purchase by assuming it would be sold out by the time I get back. I was right over the next 6 months, it did sell out. On top of that, it kind of went viral too, Stylist, Grazia, The Daily Mail and many more titles featured the coat. Moreover an entertaining Instagram account was dedicated to the Zara coat created by two sisters Alice and Emily Bray (@thatcoat) simply because they kept seeing it everywhere and obtained some amusing photos of two people both wearing @thatcoat sat next to each other on the tube etc. I wouldn't be being completely honest if I said that my feelings towards my Zara coat didn't change after seeing it everywhere, I do still like the coat, but I also felt like I had lost some exclusivity over it, which of course is naive because no one has exclusivity over a coat bought on the high street. Of course I also felt uncomfortable when seeing people wear it as I walked passed them on the street, I know slightly ridiculous! Perhaps unsurprisngly for a high street retailer Zara have bought out two new versions of @thatcoat this Spring. Unfortunately without a shadow of doubt I declare @thatcoat has been over exposed and over killed.