Brand Stories: Layered - Swedish Rugs
I have had a Pinterest board full of vintage Swedish rugs for a long time, Rölakan flatweaves from the 1950s & shaggy rya rugs with modernist colors, all with great color and pattern inspiration. When I found Layered, a contemporary Stockholm brand building on the same design foundation, with new rugs that are easier to source, order, and stand behind, I was so excited.
A Brand Born from One Rug
Layered began in 2015, when founder Malin Glemme was decorating her home and could not find the rug she wanted: high quality, sustainable, and bold. With a background in product development, she designed her own and had it woven by artisan handweavers in Bhadohi, India, a region known for hand-knotted rugs since the sixteenth century. The rug was featured in the Swedish interiors magazine Sköna Hem, readers began asking where they could buy one, and a brand was born.
Ten years later, Layered is one of Scandinavia's most talked-about design names, with press from the New York Times to Vogue and an Elle Deco Accessory of the Year award. The brand's design language balances Scandinavian restraint with genuinely bold color and form, drawing on architecture, fashion, and collaborations with Swedish artists and designers.
The Design Story
What convinced me about Layered was how seriously they take the tradition they came from. Their Röllakan collection is a deliberate tribute to the classic Swedish flatweave, to pioneering weavers like Märta Måås-Fjetterström and Barbro Nilsson, and to the generations of unnamed women who wove these rugs in their homes. Deep reds, blues, ochres, and greens balanced with undyed white wool. Old design language, spoken fluently in the present. When I look at their catalog, I see the same design foundation I spent years collecting on that Pinterest board.
How They Are Made
Every Layered rug is handmade from natural or recycled materials by small, family-run weaveries with generations of craft behind them: wool rugs in Bhadohi, shaggy pile rugs in Samarina, Greece, where flokati rugs have been made by hand for centuries. The brand designs for longevity and circularity, and their rugs hold their resale value, which says more about quality than any marketing claim could.
Why They Work Here
The desert is a bold place. The intense light and saturated colors that surround us are dramatic and show stopping. A great rug indoors is one of the simplest ways to complement the view outdoors. It's an easy thing to try out in an interior that can change how the space feels. The range of styles and colors in the Layered collection means there is a match for however your home wants to feel.
Why We Carry Them
Our goal here at Ökenhem is to bring authentic Scandinavian design to the desert region, and Layered is exactly that: a Swedish brand honoring a real tradition, making rugs by hand, built to be lived on for decades. We think they are a perfect fit for bold modern homes.
Shop the Layered collection HERE. Need a sample? Let us know!