The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

I visited the Ambiente trade fair in Frankfurt last week and fell in love with a soft furnishings exhibitor from Jaipur in India – Manglam Arts…

They showed an exquisite collection of contemporary prints with traditional roots in ikat, batik and other dye techniques. I loved their display  of indigo and grey textiles…

Earlier this month, I was away for a mere two weeks and came back to discover Minimoderns, the wonderful brand for design conscious families, had in that short time launched a glorious amount of gorgeous items!

Firstly, a collaboration with Rug Designer brought about their first foray into the grander realms of soft furnishings. The collection of high quality, 100% wool rugs, based on some new and also classic Minimoderns prints, allows you to match designs with their existing wallpapers or to mix up patterns. Patterns include bold retro prints of bunches of flowers, vintage hot air balloons and my favourite, a toy town style scene of an Italian village.

Next, is their cool ‘Folk Rock’ collections of wallpaper inspired by the West Coast. The collection features four wallpapers with a soft psychedelic edge, ‘Pet Sounds’, ‘Alice’, ‘Fayre’s Fair’ and ‘C60′.

My personal favourite is the above, ingenious wallpaper pattern, ‘Pet Sounds’ which is a woodland cocophany of music making creatures! See the cute badgers and crafty squirrels? These are available soon in harvest orange, olive/powder paint blue and heather/bitter chocolate. Too exciting!

Lush imagery and even more lush floor-coverings from Crucial Trading… Each style is so subtle yet striking – complementing, warming  and transforming each interior.

I love the dusky pinks and charcoal greys, complex textures and thick piles – I don’t think I’ve ever coveted a weave so much!

Goodmorning! Totally in lust with this dreamy rug from Woven Ground by…Calvin Klein! Like a beautiful Monet painting it’s a work of art in itself…

We have a smattering of cute products to keep you going today while I get my internet finally installed [if it doesn't happen I am going to implode] and a two part DIY for a sweet office accessory to get us motivated for the work year ahead. Lets go!

Ok we’ve all been on websites that allow you to customise your surroundings, create your own wallpaper, design your own rugs, print your own stationary – exciting right? However, nine times out of ten, after an hour spent at the ‘customisation hub’ or whatever the kids call it these days, you feel like chucking your computer out of the window!

The experience is fun at first I guess, you feel creative and clever – but then the colours never quite look right, there are far too many options at hand, you can never tell how much your end product is going to cost, the final price is always an unpleasant shock… and then you decide, you don’t really want to spend that much money on something you haven’t seen in the flesh after all! In conclusion – online customisation – not for me!

Or so I thought… [you saw that one coming I think] Rug Designer is a welcome respite from the horrors of online customisation. A simple website with direct guidance on exactly how to create your ideal rug – because lets face it, everyone’s homes are different sizes, must your only option be squeezing an expensive standard sized rug into a not so standard space?

A quick online tutorial shows you exactly how to create your rug in three simple steps, [choose rug, choose colours, choose size]. Colour options come in a range of harmonious hues, and the default rug size you work to is always shown along with the price so you can see what you have to work with [120cm x 80cm £129.00]

For the moment, Rug Designer seems like one of the more affordable bespoke rug services on the market, and really surprised me with their range of on-trend designs, which look like they could have been created by some of my favourite designers! Well done Rug Designer!