Mush is a Brooklyn based rug company founded by Jacob Winter and Franki Peroff in November of 2020. "Infusing the
ordinary with otherworldly comfort", Mush creates home decor that combines elevated visuals and comfort you can feel.

Recess by Mush is the brand's ultra-colorful, label with 6 Urban Outfitters-exclusive styles now available online.
Each rug is created using hand-woven wool in a hilo design for maximum textural appeal. As an eco-friendly upgrade, the
styles are also OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100, certified free of any harsh chemicals.

To celebrate the exclusive launch, we sat down with Jacob and Franki to learn more about Mush, their creative inspirations
and the collaboration with UO.

How and where did you two meet?

We met on the steps of the Plaza Hotel in New York. Well, that’s where we officially met in real life. We actually connected on instagram when we were both 18 and talked online for about a month before eventually meeting in person. We didn’t live in the same place, so Jacob took the train to Manhattan and met Franki at the Plaza Hotel where we wandered off into Central Park and had our first date in Sheeps Meadow.

How did you both get into rug tufting?

At the beginning of the pandemic, we both were quarantined and quickly saw an opportunity to pursue something creative. After spending our entire lives in school and believing that the only way to be successful was to pursue a more traditional career, we both had so much creativity built up in us. Jacob stumbled across a $250 rug tufting gun and took almost three weeks to pull the plug on it due to us being unemployed. Jacob really embraced the learning process, practiced and then perfected the craft and taught Franki. Then the two took the skills to TikTok where we amassed an amazing community of people who loved watching us make rugs.

What was the moment you knew you were going to create Mush?

We knew we were going to create Mush as soon as we realized people were receptive to what we were doing. But in all actuality, we both knew and talked about a dream of owning a business together years before we got into tufting. We did not know what it was going to be or how we would create it, but we both knew that this was our destiny (dramatic but true). As soon as we started to receive a lot of positive feedback and custom rug inquiries based off of our designs we would post on TikTok, we realized that people were not just interested in us making rugs, but they were also interested in our rug designs. This then prompted us to legitimize our brand in a way we did not before by investing in our brand identity, designs and production process.

How did you land on the name Mush? How does Recess by Mush differ?

Figuring out a name for our brand was honestly one of the more anxiety provoking parts of our journey. We wanted something short and fun, but also really wanted it to be an adjective that would make sense with what we were creating. Jacob was driving on the Long Island Expressway and the word Mush just came to him, he called Franki and told him, and from that moment on our brand name was Mush. So the answer is, it just came to us.

Recess by Mush is our very colorful, super expressive, experimental outlet that channels the original embodiment of Mush. We steered away from our original designs to reposition ourselves within the market as we were mostly perceived as a DIY brand. During this process, our designing process changed and steered into a more mature direction. But we soon realized how much we loved the original Mush designs and energy, so we created Recess to do that.

Tell us about your creative process:

Franki: My creative process starts with embodying my inner child. Connecting deeply with my inner child has been one of the most important aspects to my creative process. Doing this has opened up my adult imagination to endless limits, not being afraid to express whatever it is that comes to my mind. Whimsical, feminine, dramatic, expressive, childish… whatever I want to do, I do. When designing, I usually start off with a blank piece of paper and sit with my subconscious to see where my mind takes me.

Jacob: When tapping into my creative process, I like to envision myself in my dream home. Every room is perfectly curated to fit a rug that I have yet to create. I then begin to imagine what texture, shape and size rug I want for the space. This eliminates any limits I may have and really encourages me to think outside of the box.

Can you tell us about how the collaboration with Urban Outfitters came to be?

This collaboration actually began to manifest in 2015, when Franki got his very first job at Urban Outfitters in Delray Beach, Florida. He then moved to NYC shortly after and actually transferred to an Urban Outfitters there. Working retail in NYC is intense but also very transient, so he did end up leaving but his love for Urban Outfitters always stayed. Fast forward a few years, and we received an email in our inbox from Urban Outfitters about potentially stocking Mush. We immediately loved the idea but really saw it as an opportunity to reconnect with our original design style that we knew the Urban Outfitters customer would love and Recess was born.

What is you favorite style in the UO assortment?

Franki: The Davie Rug is my favorite style in the UO assortment. This rug really reminds me of my favorite place, Earth! I am very inspired by nature and the incredible landscapes, creatures and all living things that mother nature has gifted us. The Davie Rug brings me to still ponds surrounded by grassy hills.

Jacob: The Penny Rug is my favorite style in the UO assortment. Back when we were tufting full time, I would make mini rugs in the empty spaces of the tufting board with the leftover yarn from the rug I would make. The Penny Rug was one of these mini rugs and from the second I saw it, I knew we had to make it in a large version.

Who are some of your creative inspirations?

Most of our creative inspirations come from nature and from our childhood in the form of books and movies. Some of Franki’s inspirations include: "Anastasia", "The Chronicles of Narnia", and "The Magic Treehouse" books. Some of Jacob’s inspirations include: 101 Dalmatians and The Bridge to Terabithia.

Favorite movie of all time?

Franki: My favorite movie of all time is the 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland. I love the original version of the film, but there is something about this movie that has left such an impression on me. I didn’t include this in my list of creative inspirations, but this film also plays a huge role in where I draw creative inspiration from. A beautifully mad and whimsical film that reminds me to stay true to myself, no matter how obscure to the world my ideas may be.

Jacob: My favorite movie of all time is Napoleon Dynamite. Watching this movie felt like my induction into “real” films when I was a child where the creative process is elevated in all aspects. I remember how oddly beautiful the film was to me, registering how much effort and time went into every scene, and it being a comedy.

Most coveted item of home décor in your home?

Franki: The most coveted item of home decor in my home is a wooden children's chair that I used to sit in as a child at my Nana’s house. I have an extremely vivid memory of my childhood and remember all the tea parties I would have with this children table and chair set my Nana had. The chair now resides in my room, in my favorite corner, with a thriving plant on it.

Jacob: The most coveted item of home decor in my home is my newest dog sculpture. I collect dog sculptures, and the weirder the better. My newest addition was made in the 1950’s and it resembles Divine, one of the most influential and famous drag queens of all time. The dog sculpture has blue eyeshadow and the thinnest raised eyebrows. I’m not sure if this correlation was intentional, but it is to me, and for that she's my favorite.