Why This Birmingham Rug Brand Is Sure To Sweep You Away
Following 15 years in a sales and marketing career (most recently luxury skin care), Angie Burge pondered a return to her design roots. Rugs, she learned through decorating her own home, were the answer. Seeking out generational artisans in India, Afghanistan and Turkey, she unveiled English Village Lane in late 2021—with her e-commerce operation based in Birmingham’s English Village, to wit. Now, more than a year later, Burge has doubled down on her fast-growing venture, which emphasizes color harmony across the whole home via unique rugs with a designer-friendly twist.
“We have 2,600 yarn colors, so we can create a custom pattern based off any swatch or color code,” notes Burge, who stocks some 125 units on her site (see the Dalmatian-spotted Salt n Peppa or the arabesque Tutti Frutti) but can make virtually infinite bespoke iterations. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, almost half of her production is for members of the trade: with a roster that boasts Charlotte’s Lisa Mende, fresh L.A.-to-Nashville transplant Becky Nielsen and Birmingham editor-turned-designer Zoë Gowen, who recently commissioned a rug for a client to mimic the falling leaves of Central Park.
