Vintage Rugs for Modern Living
Minimal Chaos is a collective of Middle Eastern artisanship — both decorative and wearable — curated through a lens that teases apart the idea of “chaos.” Every hand-selected piece is homage to the varying shapes, bold colors and geometric patterns that culminate, still, to something calm and beautiful; something minimal. Beyond beauty, the offerings are transportive of the souk (Arabic for marketplace), utterly imbued with the story of thousands of years of craftsmanship as told by each singular maker.
Minimal Chaos is the realization of first-gen Arabic-American founder Sarah Naji. The artisan-made, curated pieces reflect an ongoing, personal narrative informed by Sarah’s upbringing, her disrupted connection to her native Syria (Syria continues to be unstable since the war in 2011) and her abiding love of art.
Like many Syrians, Sarah’s family adopted neighboring Turkey as a second homeland. There, during family vacations, she frequently accompanied her dad, a connoisseur of fine rugs, to various souks (marketplaces), unknowingly absorbing the gift of learning how to navigate that world. Through him, she learned about the ancient alchemy of weaving and hand tufting, how to discern quality; the feel of something made well.
In time, she wandered into the souks alone in search of statement pieces that were both eclectic and minimalist. When she returned home to the U.S. wearing some of her finds, her friends began asking her to shop for them, planting the seed for what would eventually become Minimal Chaos.
A graduate of art school, a designer by trade, a photographer by passion, all alongside her intuitive kinship with textiles, Sarah is above all, a creative at heart. With Minimal Chaos, her ambition is to spotlight true craftsmanship, amplify the voice of the artisans, and honor her expansive sense of home by weaving a connection between her worlds.
Both a culmination of her past experiences and a living inquiry into her present imagination, Minimal Chaos was founded in 2020 but has been a lifetime in the making.
