How a Painter and a Mathematician Revolutionized Carpet Design

Courtesy photo

This article is from the winter 2025 issue of Boston Home. Sign up here to receive a subscription.

“Weaving is one of the oldest crafts in the world,” Gosia Staron says. But carpets from JD Staron, the brand she helms with her husband, Jakub D. Staron, feel utterly contemporary. Take their new Truly Bespoke collection, featuring unusual shapes and organic textures evoking verdant moss, veined marble, and rippling water. Such made-to-order marvels are created in collaboration with weavers in India, Thailand, Nepal, Peru, and beyond, who combine old and new techniques and materials—from wool and alpaca to aloe and cactus—to craft one-of-a-kind décor.

Jakub’s first passion was painting, but weaving was the closest course of study available in high school in his native Poland. After moving to New York at age 21, he earned a BFA from Parsons and an MFA from Hunter College, supporting his painting practice by repairing antique carpets on the side. One night, in a bar tucked beneath a gallery that was showing his art, he met Gosia, then a math major at Queens College, at a mutual friend’s birthday party. He ordered shots with chasers; she took hers straight. “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, gorgeous blonde drinks like a sailor and studies mathematics: I’m in love,’” Jakub recalls with a laugh.

Weavers in Nepal work on carpets like the “Marmo,” inspired by marble’s natural veining. / Courtesy photo

Gosia went on to earn an MBA from NYU, and the couple drew on her business savvy and Jakub’s textile expertise to found JD Staron in 2003. Having connected with a young woman in China hoping to start her own workshop, they began with an order of three rugs and gradually built a wholesale business. After the 2008 housing market crash, they pivoted to selling directly to designers, offering an encyclopedic range of traditional designs. In recent years, changes in the market have spurred them to take a more artistic approach. “Because everything is so easily available through various sources and platforms, people appreciate more creativity and innovation,” Jakub says. “We don’t have to do basics anymore. Now we can really spread our wings.”

Today, the Connecticut-based brand has seven showrooms, including one in Boston’s SoWa district, and Jakub travels to remote locations around the globe to work directly with weavers. “You don’t have to build a factory [to weave],” he points out. “Some of our carpets are made without any use of outside power sources. No electricity, nothing but the power of human hands.” The weavers’ income can make a real impact in these communities. “I tell people, buying this carpet, you supported six families for six months—that’s very significant,” Gosia says. The Starons are currently pursuing B Corp certification, a designation for businesses that meet high standards for social and environmental responsibility. “Being a good citizen of the world is very important for both of us,” she says.

So is continuing to evolve artistically. Consider their new Shigeru carpet, made from many handtufted pieces and inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. In a time when countless mass-produced carpets are just a click away, the Starons hope such unique designs can cultivate an appreciation for time-tested craftsmanship and the beauty of natural materials. “We’re trying to spread that message, and I think you do it by making new, unusual things. Because then the question gets asked: ‘How did you make it?’” Gosia says. “So pushing the creativity is always on the agenda.”

Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo