“I like there to be a little edge to what I’m creating—or even wearing—while still being casual,” says luxury textile designer Rosemary Hallgarten. “If I’m wearing a heel, it can’t pinch my feet. And a leather jacket must be super comfortable, like a second skin.”

This philosophy extends to the design of Hallgarten’s line of rugs and fabrics—sensual goods made from the world’s finest fibers. To London-born Hallgarten, how a textile feels is as important as how it looks.

A lifelong creator with a decidedly modern sensibility, Hallgarten spent her first eight years in Beirut and grew up speaking French, “My mother was a budding archaeologist, and my father worked for the United Nations,” explains Hallgarten, adding, “he was knighted by the Queen at the same time as the Beatles!”

When the war in Lebanon broke out in 1975, the family returned to London where Hallgarten, who describes herself as “an only child with older half-brothers,” attended boarding school. Her mother became very involved in the London craft scene, which was quite different from the one in the United States at the time. “It was very much more modern,” she says, “and that definitely impacted my vision,” even though the family lived in Lincoln’s Inn, a venerable neighborhood of central London. “Any Sherlock Holmes or ancient London film or TV show will have a scene that’s been shot there,” Hallgarten adds with a laugh.

This story appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of MILIEU. To read the complete story or to see all photos, visit the MILIEU Newsstand to purchase this issue in print or visit Zinio.com to purchase this issue in digital format.  

WRITTEN BY EDWARD MCCANN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SISSELA JOHANSSON, CHRIS EVERARD, JON AARON GREEN