How quatrefoil became a bridge between old and new styles In the second episode of Judd Apatow?s Netflix show, Love, a long and circuitous day of mishaps between the show?s main characters, Mickey and Gus, concludes with the two sweetly realizing a romantic connection?a classic, albeit prolonged, meet-cute. But in the tender final scene, a third character is present: the rug. The rug?s geometric pattern is uncannily familiar, vaguely pleasant-looking, mostly unassuming. It doesn?t demand one?s attention or clamor over other objects in the scene. It simply is.
Mickey realizes she and Gus have the same rug, and suddenly their chaotic encounter feels a little bit fated. Which is funny, because these days, there?s hardly a single big-box, mainstream interior goods retailer in America that doesn?t have a rug like that in its inventory.
Images courtesy of Netflix

As a design motif, the quatrefoil shape (which sometimes goes by other names, like trellis, lattice, or fretwork) has been around for centuries. But in the last two decades, its contemporary iteration in textile form has popped up everywhere from ?modern farmhouse? bloggers to Mitt Romney?s son?s house to, of course, HGTV?s Instagram. It?s on Target?s website, where the $75 Threshold Fretwork Rug has amassed 1,700 reviews and an almost-perfect star rating. In the ?Most Reviewed? results for area rugs on Wayfair.com, another version of the rug holds the top slot. And of a quarter-million res...