KELLY WATSON

FOUNDER + RUG SLANGER
Sourcing and Selling Vintage Rugs & Found Objects from Afar

Her best memories are of early weekend morning drives down dusty Indiana roads with nothing but cornfields in sight. She would accompany her father to estate sales, auctions and flea market explorations. The anticipation of unearthing hidden treasures and dreaming up where the newly found objects once lived and where they would journey to next. Old strands of glass beads now dull, flowers pressed into leather bound books, lacey curtains repurposed for her and her little sister’s dresses sewn by their mother’s hands, skeleton keys that would unlock secret doors. Who were these item's keepers and why had they chosen to discard them? This intrigue for the unknown has led Kelly to where she is today.

A modern nomad of sorts… wandering the streets of the concrete jungle. A time traveler. Traversing red sandstone walled medinas steeped in tradition. A gather of things - Stories. Friends. Recipes. Rugs. Memories. If laughter could be collected and bottled from her global travels it would be her most worldly treasure. Second only to her collection of vintage Moroccan rugs, but are they really just rugs? Some are said to promise heaven ‘Bakara’ and others good fortune, a many ward off demons with their evil eye. Each telling a story as varied as our own lives. Woven by tribal women whose voices weren’t always heard. Theirs are the scrips with no letters. They are enriched in history, in love and in loss in celebration and in fear. Their multifaceted abstraction might not ever be retold the same as the days it was woven into existence. To us they are an infinite vastness of landscape linking past to present. They ground our thoughtfully edited spaces. They are the art that we walk on. Many artist have been spellbound by their color and ability to transport- Mark Rothko, Yves Klein and Sol Lewitt all have pieces representative of a Boujaad - Beni M'Guild and Beni M'tir hand knotted berber rugs. The distinction becomes blurred from paint to knot.

It is her hope that she can create the life she has always imagined through Watson Edits. A life soaked in color, culture, creativity, texture, design, purpose, relics old and new. A bountiful life with no limits as to who it could touch or forever change. 5% from every rug sold will be donated to women's humanitarian aid.

Her collections are an offering to you so that you may use them as a building block in your own home. Gather with your friends and families and create memories of your own while imagining the story the rug holds.

Watson Edits was founded in 2017 by Interior Designer & collector, Kelly Watson in her NYC apartment with her Italian Greyhound Biggs. He is the careful watchman of her sacred treasures. She earned a BS in Interior Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale Florida. Upon completion, she went on to pursue her career in design at a prestigious design firm in Miami, FL as senior designer and specifier. After dedicating 10+ years to luxury residential, commercial and hospitality design she decided to take the leap and move to New York City. A place she had always dreamed of living, but an impromptu trip found her in Morocco traversing the desert and cities alike sifting through piles of heirloom vintage rugs and fabrics… and this is where Watson Edits was first imagined! She now spends her time procuring beautiful objects from around the world for her online shop.

BIGGS

GREYHOUND-IN-CHEIF
Moroccan Rug Guard Dog

You can find him nestled in the woolen Moroccans his fur a soft henna like brown camouflaging him from sight. He is always there though with his big endearing eyes keeping watch. After his modeling career with Vogue Italia ended he took on his current position as guard dog of Moroccan rugs and has never left his post… well, unless someone tempts him with bacon.