The Challenge
West Elm needed a refined way to display large rugs from the center of their stores, a solution that would be:
● Visible from all sides
● Capable of holding rugs of any thickness
●Simple for staff to operate
●Scalable across all of their Western Hemisphere retail locations
The fixture also needed to align with West Elm’s design language and sustainability standards while standing up to daily in-store use.
Reworking something as familiar as a rug fixture required rethinking both form and function.
The Solution
The Metric Group began with research and early renderings to explore alternative approaches to rug display. Several rounds of prototyping followed, allowing ergonomics, material performance, and ease of use to guide the final design.
The resulting fixture delivers a clean, minimal aesthetic with durable construction and smooth, one-person operation, making it practical for store teams while remaining visually understated on the sales floor.
To meet West Elm’s sustainability standards, the fixture was fabricated from locally sourced Douglas Fir, reinforcing the brand’s commitment to responsible materials.
A Moxon-style clamping mechanism securely holds rugs of any thickness while maintaining an unobtrusive presence ensuring the product, not the fixture, remains the focal point.
The Result
● A durable, elegant rug display visible from all angles
● Consistent performance across a wide range of rug sizes and thicknesses
● Intuitive operation that simplifies staff workflow
● A fixture design scalable for deployment across all West Elm retail locations
The final solution balanced design integrity, operational efficiency, and sustainability, transforming a utilitarian retail element into a thoughtfully engineered brand asset.
Why It Mattered
In retail, fixtures quietly shape the customer experience. By improving how rugs are displayed, handled, and maintained, West Elm gained a system that enhances merchandising while reducing friction for store teams.
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