From bus shelters to museums

KAWS is the name of Brian Donnelly, an artist born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1974, who began in the 1990s as a graffiti writer in New York, famously painting over the advertisements in bus shelters and phone booths with his own characters. He also worked for a time as a freelance animator, painting backgrounds for television cartoons. In 1999 he created the Companion, a cartoon figure with crossed-out X eyes, and turned it into limited-edition vinyl toys that collectors queued for. Since then, his work has moved from toy shelves to museums and auction houses, with giant inflatable Companions floating in harbors from Hong Kong to Taipei, and paintings selling for millions.

A KAWS-inspired rug borrows that visual language, X eyes, crossbones, bold flat color and a love of cartoons, and puts it on the floor of a sneaker room, a studio or a collector's home. Ours are printed into short velvet, so flat color and clean outlines come out crisp, and they go in the washing machine. To be clear from the start: these are independent designs inspired by the style, not official KAWS works or products, and they don't reproduce his characters.

The X eyes

The single most recognizable element of the style is a pair of crossed-out eyes, two bold Xs where eyes would be. It's a mark borrowed from old cartoons, where it meant a character was knocked out, and turned into a signature. On a rug, a pair of X eyes on a bold background is a clean, graphic design that fans will recognize and others will read as playful pop art. A round rug with two large Xs is the simplest and most striking version.

Crossbones and pop shapes

Crossbones, skulls drawn in a soft cartoon style and puffy, rounded shapes are part of the same language: a little menacing, a little cute. A design built from those elements, in flat pinks, greys, blacks and yellows, suits a teen's room, a creative studio or a streetwear-focused living room.

Flat color and clean outlines

Much of the appeal of this style is its color: large, flat areas of bright pink, sky blue, grey, black, white and yellow, with clean outlines and no shading. That flatness makes it ideal for printing, and a rug in this style looks almost like a giant screen print on the floor.

Palette	The mood	Pairs with
Grey and black	Classic, collectible, understated	Concrete, black furniture, white walls
Pink and black	Playful, bold	White shelves, neon, sneaker displays
Brown and tan	Warm, toy-like	Wood, leather, warm lighting
Multicolor	Loud, pop-art, joyful	Plain rooms that let the rug lead

Grey and black is the safest choice for a sneaker room, and it shows everyday dust less than pastel colors do.

Crowds, drops and giants

Part of the KAWS story is the sheer excitement around it. A 2019 collaboration with a global clothing retailer sold out almost instantly, with shoppers rushing into stores as the doors opened. Touring exhibitions placed enormous inflatable figures in harbors, parks and public squares, drawing crowds who came just to take a photo. That sense of event, of something you had to be there for, is part of what fans love, and a bold rug captures a little of it at home.

Between cartoons and fine art

The style plays with characters everyone grew up with, reworking familiar cartoon shapes into something stranger and more emotional: figures that hide their faces, slump with exhaustion or hold each other close. That mix of humor and melancholy is why it hangs in museums as well as on toy shelves. A rug in this spirit doesn't need a character at all; the X eyes, a soft cartoon outline and a muted grey palette carry the same feeling.

Art toys and collecting

KAWS helped turn vinyl figures into a serious collecting world, where limited editions sell out instantly and rare pieces fetch high prices. Collectors often display their toys in glass cases or on floating shelves, and a rug in the same visual language ties a display room together. A 4×6 or 5×7 ft rug in the middle of the room, in colors pulled from the collection, frames it without competing with it.

The sneaker room

KAWS-inspired style sits naturally with sneaker culture: the artist has worked with sportswear and fashion brands, and his collaborations have sold out in minutes. A sneaker room with plain walls, good lighting and a bold X-eyes rug in the center feels curated and personal. For more, see our sneaker rugs and hypebeast and streetwear rugs.

Studios and living rooms

Because the style lives in galleries as well as stores, a KAWS-inspired rug works in a grown-up living room or a studio, not just a teen's bedroom. A grey and black design suits a minimal apartment with concrete and black metal; a multicolor design suits a creative space full of art books and prints. For the softest feel underfoot, choose Premium, 7 mm plush velvet on a bamboo and cotton back, about 700 g/m². Our living room rugs page has more layouts.

Teen bedrooms

For a teenager into streetwear and art toys, a bold X-eyes rug is a great way to give a bedroom that look: grey or white walls, a few framed prints, sneakers on a shelf and a figure or two on the desk. A 2.6×3.9 ft rug beside the bed, or a 3.3 to 4.6 ft (100 to 140 cm) round rug under the desk, works well. Our bedroom rugs page has more ideas.

Gaming setups

Under a desk chair, choose Standard: 5 mm crushed velvet on a non-slip faux leather back, about 500 g/m², in 3.3×5 or 4×6 ft, which stays put and lets wheels roll freely. A round X-eyes rug under a gaming chair is a striking setup centerpiece. See our gaming rugs for more.

Round and shaped rugs

The X-eyes motif suits a round rug perfectly, from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across. Our shaped rugs can also be cut to the outline of a bold pop shape, a crossbones or a puffy cartoon form of your own design, in sizes from 2.6×2.6 up to 5.2×5.9 ft (80×80 to 160×180 cm). Our round rugs page shows each size in a room.

Pop art and the street

This style sits in a long line of artists who blurred the line between pop culture and fine art, from Andy Warhol's soup cans to Keith Haring's subway drawings. If you love that lineage, see our Andy Warhol-inspired and Keith Haring-inspired rugs, our pop art rugs and our graffiti rugs.

Other streetwear-inspired rugs

For more streetwear looks, see our BAPE-inspired, Supreme-inspired, Off-White-inspired and Stüssy-inspired pages.

Your own design

If you've drawn your own character with X eyes, or want a design in your crew's colors, our custom rugs can print it in any size up to 5′11″ × 10′, or cut it to shape. Please only send artwork you're allowed to use, which rules out another artist's characters; your own drawings and designs are all fine. Custom rugs are made just for you and can't be returned.

Standard or Premium

Standard is best under desk chairs, in hallways, entryways and on hard floors, because its non-slip back stays put. Premium is softer and warmer, best in bedrooms, living rooms and lounges. Both are printed the same way, so flat colors stay bold and outlines stay crisp, and both go in the washing machine.

Sizes, shipping and returns

Rectangles come in 2×3, 2.6×3.9, 3.3×5, 4×6 and 5×7 ft. Round rugs come from 2.6 to 5.9 ft (80 to 180 cm) across, and shaped rugs from 2.6×2.6 up to 5.2×5.9 ft (80×80 to 160×180 cm). Custom sizes go up to 5′11″ × 10′. Every rug is printed to order in 1–3 business days and ships from Turkey; US delivery usually takes 2–5 business days after that. Unused rugs can be returned within 30 days on US orders; custom rugs can't be returned.

Displaying a collection

If you collect art toys, keep figures out of strong direct sunlight, which can fade vinyl over time, and give each piece a little space so it reads clearly. A rug in the same palette as the collection, under a glass cabinet or in front of a wall of shelves, makes the display feel finished.

Gifts

A KAWS-inspired rug is a great gift for an art-toy collector, a sneakerhead or a design student. If you aren't sure of their taste, a grey and black X-eyes round rug is the safest; a pink and black design is the most fun.

Care

Machine wash on a gentle, cold cycle and let it air dry flat. Vacuum on a low setting between washes, and blot spills with cold water right away. The design is printed into the fibers, so the color stays flat and bold and the outlines stay sharp, wash after wash.

A note on the artist

Art at giant scale

Part of KAWS' fame comes from size. His touring project of giant inflatable sculptures has floated huge figures in places like Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, a lake in Seoul and near Mount Fuji, turning public spaces into enormous open-air galleries. The idea of art that is playful, oversized and impossible to ignore is central to the style his work inspired.

A rug can borrow that sense of scale with original designs: one huge, simple shape that fills almost the whole rug, a bold outline cropped by the edges as if it were too big to fit, or a giant pair of X-shaped marks floating on a flat sea of color. Oversized forms make a small room feel more confident, and they read clearly from across a space.

These designs pair well with clean white walls, simple furniture and a shelf of art toys, where the rug becomes the biggest piece in the collection. In a sneaker room or a studio, they act like a gallery floor, giving the room a center of gravity.

As always with artist-inspired designs, we create our own shapes and compositions; we don't print the artist's characters or works, so the rug captures a style rather than copying a piece.

A bold, oversized rug also anchors a room with very little furniture, perfect for minimalist apartments.

A single large shape also photographs well for collectors who share their shelves online, giving every picture a clean, graphic floor.

Padrift is an independent studio. KAWS is named only to describe the style our designs are inspired by. We are not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by KAWS, Brian Donnelly or any of his partners, and these rugs are not official KAWS works or products.