A St. Louis artist reimagines her work as rugs for the home

In collaboration with Mexico-based TheArtRug, the new collection is for sale locally at Hearth & Soul.

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To view Faith Berger’s abstract art, one can now cast their gaze downward.

Last week, the St. Louis-based artist launched a collection of rugs in collaboration with Valentina Casale, owner of TheArtRug, a premier rug manufacturer based in Puebla, Mexico. Based on Berger’s paintings, the handmade floor coverings can be custom ordered to fit any size or shape of room. 

“The fact that the designs can be translated into a circular pattern, or even an abstract pattern, makes it easier for the consumer to adapt them to [their home],” says Berger. “That’s the beauty of this collaboration.”

Although somewhat new to painting–Berger launched her professional painting career in 2021– she’s been immersed in the art world since 1988, when she joined her mother Shirley Taxman Schwartz as a buyer and frame designer at Barucci Gallery. Taxman Schwartz, an artist, master framer, and restoration expert, purchased the gallery in 1987 and, with the help of her daughter, built it into a seven-category business, showcasing art from around the world. The duo is credited with bringing art glass artists, such as Robert Morris, Grant Miller, Toland Sand and others, to St. Louis and the broader Midwest. The gallery—which closed in 2011—was named one of the country’s Top 100 Galleries for 15 years and, for 10 of those, one of the Top 10 Galleries by Buyers of American Craft Group. 

But even before the gallery closed, Berger had decided to launch her own art consulting business in 2007. About a decade later, she took a few years off before picking up a paint brush in 2021. “I’d been painting all along but not to this degree,” she says, “and there were things I hadn’t seen before that I wanted to create.” Inspired by the artists she knew as well as the world around her, she began creating contemporary works of art using acrylic paint on canvas and paper—lines, circles, swirls in blacks, golds, grays, and creams informed by nature and human connection. “The circular movement you see in the art is connecting everyone,” says Berger. “It’s really been weighing on my mind that it would be lovely if we could all connect … with each other, instead of this divisive thing that goes on in modern-day culture.” 

Fortuitously, it was a connection on Instagram that brought Berger and Casale together last fall. After one of Berger’s posts popped up on Casale’s feed, Casale sent her a direct message. 

“When I saw her artwork, I absolutely loved the colors,” says Casale, who moved to St. Louis from Mexico five years ago. “They were very neutral and very good for the kinds of things that many interior designers ask me for.” As a manufacturer of hand-tufted rugs, Casale says she’s drawn to Berger’s contemporary style. “I contacted her to tell her I was interested in talking,” she says. 

Last October, the two women met at a pop-up gallery hosted by Berger in the same Clayton location as the former Barucci Gallery. Casale brought a recreation of Berger’s work to the event with her. “I had a sample with me of some of her artwork that I had taken from Instagram to show her what I could do in my rugs with her designs,” she says. The two hit it off right away, and Berger was sold on the concept. “We connected on a lot of different levels,” Berger says. “To present art to people in a different way was really exciting to me.”

For Casale, who was recreating a painting in rug form for the first time, it was important to stay true to Berger’s artistic vision, while adapting the pattern for a collection of rugs. “Painting is different from tufting, so I have to redesign the original artwork,” she says. “One of the challenges [was] trying to interpret her designs in the best way so that she, as an artist, still recognized her work.” 

The rugs are hand-tufted using yarn made from New Zealand wool and dyed in TheArtRug’s facility in Mexico. As for Berger, she’s thrilled with the results. “The designs translate beautifully,” she says. “It’s really a thrill to see my artwork being done in this way.”

Berger and Casale chose 15 works of art to translate into home décor. The accompanying 29-page color catalog helps clients visualize the options for customization. The result is an interactive process that gives homeowners, as well as interior designers, creative input into the final look, size, or shape of the rug. 

Like a “true piece of art,” Berger says, each one will feature her signature and series number. She says: “No two will ever be alike.” 

To view some of the rugs in the first collection, visit Hearth and Soul in Ladue. 

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