When designer Athena Calderone first entered her new wood-paneled apartment in TriBeCa, she caught a whiff of a premonition. The space, to Calderone, had a regal atmosphere reminiscent of Vienna, a city she’d never visited. This feeling led her down a rabbit hole of various European design movements, from the Vienna Secession to French Art Deco. One particular drawing by Austrian architect Josef Hoffmann, featuring carefully sketched, symmetrical blue squares for a housing complex, left an impression on Calderone and served as a powerful creative spark. It all directly influenced Salon, her new collaboration with Beni Rugs.

The collection comprises a dozen styles and marks the second time that the lifestyle guru has teamed up with Beni—as well as the first time that the brand has introduced low-pile rugs into its lineup. Naturally, Calderone did her homework, traveling to Vienna to get hands-on experience with the original designs that had initially inspired her. Her Mak design, for example, evokes the rectilinear ceiling at the MAK Museum; similarly, the patterns on the ceiling of designer Adolf Loos’s famed American Bar proved a consistent muse. “It’s so modern and so relevant,” Calderone says of the latter. “It’s such an anomaly.”

Athena Calderone’s new collection with Beni Rugs was photographed in the Paris apartment of French architect Auguste Perret.

The collection’s icy blue and red hues, meanwhile—a departure from her previous collection with Beni—come from a room in the city’s Albertina Museum. “The color palette is more rich, interesting, and layered,” says Robert Wright, Beni’s cofounder. “Somehow, it feels fresh and modern.”

Helena Madden is ELLE DECOR’s market editor, and covers all things product and trend, from flatware and furnishings to kitchen and bath. She previously worked as a staff writer at Robb Report, where she covered luxury news with a focus on interior design.