The 8th Annual Holiday House design show is going on now through January 8th, 2017. It is an event that brings together top interior designers in a worthy cause: a benefit for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Founded by Iris Dankner, it is one of the premier show houses in the country. This year it has moved downtown to two luxury townhouses on Soho’s vibrant Sullivan Street and is honoring the inimitable Iris Apfel.

This beautiful 18th century carpet was made at the Royal Textile Factory of Cuenca and is a product of Spain’s illustrious carpet making tradition, the oldest in Europe. Carpets from the Castilian town of Cuenca have been circulating throughout the European and Eastern worlds for centuries.

Mats from the nomadic tribes of the Sahara desert have wandered all the way to New York’s prestigious 740 Park Avenue. In this interior, architect to the stars Peter Marino has used the stark elegance of these mats, woven by women of the African desert, to great effect.