About Kevin Francis O'Gara III

A fifth-generation Atlantan with an appreciation for Southern joie de vivre, Kevin founded his acclaimed design blog Thou Swell as a sophomore in high school, and has since collaborated with dozens of design brands to create sophisticated projects for his followers. His work has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens, Domino, HGTV Magazine, House Beautiful, and more. With a keen eye for infusing traditional decor with a youthful contemporary spirit, he is an emerging voice in American design.

As a painter and collagist at heart, Kevin approaches each rug design like a blank canvas. At 21, he founded Kevin Francis Design after an aerial image of the gardens at Château de Villandry inspired his debut Labyrinth Collection. Growing up with parents who loved to cook, he developed a passion for entertaining, table setting, and flower arranging that informs his approach to creating curated yet playfully lived-in spaces.

A Cancer who thrives on sunshine and water, Kevin finds constant inspiration in Atlanta's magnificent trees, whose seasonal changes influence his organic designs. Raised with reverence for antiques yet drawn to mixing old and new, his signature mix, coined New Regency Style™, always feels both time-honored and fresh. His unique rug designs are created with the hope that they bring joy to the rooms they inhabit.

He resides in Atlanta with his poodles Leopold and Persephone, surrounded by the natural beauty that continues to inspire his work.
September 2013
Kevin founds blog Thou Swell at age 16 to share interior design projects and inspiration, going on to collaborate with dozens of national home decor brands to produce editorial partnerships.
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May 2016
Kevin is the youngest participant to be invited to be a featured designer in the One Room Challenge, with his bold primary bedroom design published on House Beautiful.
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June 2018
As a sophomore at Cornell University, Kevin launches his inaugural product collection: the Labyrinth Collection rugs, inspired by the myth and meditation of mazes from around the world.
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2021
By 2021, Kevin's work has been featured by Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, Atlanta Magazine, Apartment Therapy, Ballard Designs, Better Homes & Gardens, Design*Sponge, Domino, Dwell Magazine, HGTV.com, House Beautiful, Real Simple, and more.
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October 2021
Kevin consolidates his brand under Kevin Francis Design with the successful sale of Thou Swell to a media company. The Francis Files blog launches under KFD, a new home for Kevin's original blog posts.
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August 2022
House Beautiful publishes a dedicated home tour of Kevin's Atlanta apartment, featuring his newly-launched Iconium Collection hand-knotted rug designs.
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July 2024
Homeworthy publishes Kevin's Midtown Atlanta home tour, featuring his signature mix of new and old and his newly-launched Panthera leopard rug design.
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Our Handmade Rug Craftsmanship

From the bustling workshops where hand-knotted masterpieces take shape knot by patient knot, to the rhythmic looms where flatweaves emerge like woven poetry, each day brings new possibilities. Our Indian partners don't just execute our designs—they collaborate, innovate, and often bring new techniques to our design process.

We work closely with workshops in Bhadohi, India, the capital of rug-making in the country, which accounts for over 70% of India's production. We partner with artisans who bring generations of experience to every step of the process, allowing us to bring a custom rug design experience to our customers.

Our Materials

The final piece is only as good as the materials used. For our luxury rugs, we use predominantly the finest New Zealand wool, considered among the highest quality wools available anywhere in the world. This premium wool is lauded for its exceptional suppleness, strength, and incredible ability to take on vibrant colors.

Hand Dyeing

Working with traditional techniques refined over generations, our artisans heat water over controlled fires, carefully adding pigments in exact proportions. Every batch is small, allowing for meticulous control over saturation and consistency. For hand-spun wool, color variation across the yarn (known as abrash) is a time-honored indication of the handmade process.

8x10 Color Study Wool Flatweave Rug (Stocked) by Kevin Francis Design | Luxury Area Rugs & Home Decor

Weaving & Washing

After months of careful hand-crafting, every rug undergoes multiple washings to achieve its final, luxurious texture. After washing, each rug is placed on precise stretching frames to ensure it maintains exact measurements as it dries naturally in the sun. This traditional method not only preserves the rug's dimensions but also allows the natural heat and light to provide final conditioning to the wool fibers.

Hand Finishing

The rug surface is then meticulously trimmed by hand to remove any loose threads and achieve perfect pile consistency. For some designs, skilled finishers may hand-carve pattern elements, creating subtle relief that gives the design dimensional depth and enhanced visual impact. Every cut is deliberate and every detail considered, ensuring that each rug leaves our workshops as a completed work of art.

Anatolia Hand-Tufted Maze Rug by Kevin Francis Design | Luxury Area Rugs & Home Decor

Signature Rug Constructions
Hand Knotted

The pinnacle of rug-making artistry, our hand-knotted rugs represent thousands of years of refined technique. Each knot is individually tied by skilled artisans who can tie up to 1,000 knots per day, following intricate patterns that exist only in their practiced memories and careful charts.

Using traditional Turkish, Persian, and Tibetan knotting techniques, our weavers work on upright looms, tying each knot around the warp threads with precision that comes only from years of training. A single 8x10 rug contains approximately 500,000 individual knots, each one a small act of devotion to the craft.

The density of knotting determines not just the rug's durability, but its ability to render fine details. Our artisans adjust their technique based on the design's complexity, sometimes working at densities of up to 200+ knots per square inch for the most intricate patterns.
Hand Tufted

Hand-tufting represents a perfect balance between traditional craftsmanship and efficient production. Using a specialized tufting gun, artisans punch strands of wool through a canvas backing, creating pile heights and textures that would be impossible with other methods.

This technique allows for remarkable creative freedom, enabling our designers to incorporate multiple pile heights, varied textures, and sculptural elements within a single piece. The artisan's skill lies in controlling the gun's pressure and angle, creating consistent pile while following complex patterns drawn on the backing cloth.

After tufting, each rug is carefully sheared to achieve uniform pile height, then finished with a protective backing. The result combines the handmade character we prize with the versatility of modern designs.
Handwoven Flatweave

Our flatweave rugs embody understated elegance, crafted using techniques that have remained virtually unchanged for centuries. Working on horizontal looms, our weavers interlace warp and weft threads to create patterns that are identical on both sides—a hallmark of superior flatweave construction.

The beauty of flatweave lies in its geometric precision. The grid-like structure of the weave naturally lends itself to linear patterns, stripes, and bold geometric motifs. Because there's no pile, every thread contributes to both structure and pattern, creating a result that's prized for its durability.

These rugs possess a casual sophistication that works beautifully in contemporary settings. Their flat profile makes them ideal for high-traffic areas, and their reversible nature effectively doubles their lifespan.
Hand Looped

Our hand-looped rugs represent exceptional durability combined with rich textural appeal. Using techniques refined over generations, artisans form the wool into secure loops rather than cutting them into pile, creating a construction that is inherently more resilient to heavy foot traffic and wear.

This method produces rugs with remarkable longevity. The looped construction distributes weight and stress more evenly across the surface, making these pieces ideal for high-traffic areas where both beauty and durability are essential. The loops themselves are less prone to crushing than cut pile, helping the rug maintain its appearance over decades of use.

The hand-looped technique allows artisans to create subtle textural variations that add visual interest and depth to the design. The interplay of light and shadow created by the loop structure gives these rugs a distinctive character that becomes more beautiful with age and use.