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62 AS THE RUG COMPANY CELEBRATES 20 YEARS, PHOTOGRAPHER MARY McCARTNEY — YES, OF THOSE McCARTNEYS — TRAINS HER LENS ON SOME OF THE WORLD'S BEST DESIGNERS. BY REBECCA SHERMAN POSITIVELY LOOM-INOUS Sir Paul Smith, Stripes rug F or the 20th birthday of London- based The Rug Company, a proper celebration means much more than beautiful textiles. Not only has the rug collective asked fi ve of its best-selling designers to create new rug designs, but in a bold artistic addition, photographer Mary McCartney — daughter of Sir Paul McCartney and the late photographer Linda McCartney, and sister to fashion designer Stella McCartney — was tapped to capture portraits of a handful of the designers at work in their studios. There's much to see. Sir Paul Smith, the idiosyncratic fashion designer knighted by the queen in 2000, has fashioned a rug that plays off his trademark multicolored stripes (from $3,480). The Rug Company's co-founder, Suzanne Sharp, calls on her Mediterranean childhood of crumbling palazzos and inlaid marble fl oors for the patterns in her Bonavita rug (from $2,376). Rebel fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, an instigator of the '70s punk movement, created an oversized Highland tartan design (from $3,096); while interior designer Kelly Wearstler translates her abstract, hand-painted brushstrokes into a minimalist Channels design (from $3,864). And, for Alexander McQueen, the British fashion house's creative director Sarah Burton composed a moody fl oral Chiaroscuro, which draws inspiration from 17th-century Dutch still lifes. McQueen's hand- woven wool Aubusson is in a limited edition of 40 (from $9,456). The Rug Company, 1626 Hi Line Dr., therugcompany.com. Vivienne Westwood, Highland tartan rug Suzanne Sharp, Bonavita rug Kelly Wearstler, Channels rug Alexander McQueen's Chiaroscuro rug collection COURTESY KELLY WEARSTLER