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Edward Fields Carpet Makers is an American producer of bespoke carpets. Since its inception in 1935, the company has been meticulously manufacturing its product offerings through a process that begins with an initial watercolor or graphic rendering which is then tailored precisely to a designer’s aesthetic vision and an interior’s practical requirements.

History
Edward Fields launched his eponymous carpet business on September 29th, 1935, the day after he married his wife, Eleanor. The couple spent their honeymoon setting up the firm’s East 47th Street showroom. Later in the decade he developed and introduced the Magic Needle, a proprietary carpet-tufting device that required significant training, and which helped the company’s skilled craftspeople create the distinctive designs at the core of the company’s growing reputation.

As the years progressed, increasing success came to Fields personally and professionally. In 1951, the Associated Press added him to its list of Ten Best-Dressed Men ; others on the list that year were Bob Hope and General Dwight Eisenhower. In 1952, he popularized the use of the area rug, in order to stand out from the broadloom, cut-pile, wall-to-wall carpet that was most prevalent during that time. With that, Fields completely changed the approach to the rug by decorators and architects, introducing the idea of the small modern carpet as a designer piece, presented seasonally. The following year, the company launched a collection of designs by textile designer Marion V. Dorn. . By 1955, expansion was underway as the firm leased factory space in Flushing Queens, and in 1957, its second artist-designed collection, by Raymond Loewy, was introduced.

The upward trajectory continued through the 1960s. In 1962, Edward’s brother, Eliot Fields, spearheaded the family firm’s western expansion with a Los Angeles showroom. That same year, Edward Fields began its relationship with The White House when it created a rug for the Diplomatic Reception Room as part of the National Society of Interior Designers’ White House restoration effort, led by Jacqueline Kennedy. In 1967 the company moved its showroom to East 59th Street, where it was a fixture of the New York design scene for many years. Edward Fields received an honorary fellowship from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) in 1978.

When Edward Fields died in 1979, he was eulogized as a design innovator by Time magazine, the New York Times, and a plethora of industry magazines. Jack Fields, his son, assumed the position of company president in 1980, as the company expanded its grasp on the luxury market. It remains a leader in the luxury yacht and private jet sector today.

In 2005, Edward Fields was acquired by Hong Kong-based Tai Ping Carpets International Ltd. As part of the re-branding, a new Edward Fields Edition (i.e. collection) was launched  in a newly relocated and redesigned flagship showroom on East 58th Street. Currently the company’s product line consists of eleven editions—with one introduced per year--and now, the longtime New York-based brand has additional studios in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles, each of these operating as “stop-in-shops” based in existing Tai Ping showrooms.

Iconic Projects
Since being founded, Edward Fields has supplied America’s leading architects and designers with custom floorcoverings for notable private residences and significant public spaces. Iconic Edward Fields’ projects over the years include Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, CT (1949); Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House in Pasadena, CA (CK) (1949, renovated 2007); Skidmore, Owings and Merrill’s Lever House in New York City (1952); Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center at Idlewild (now JFK International) Airport (1962); and The White House and Air Force One (1962 – present).