Instead of the crisp geometric pattern one might expect from a modernist like Thomas O’Brien, Porcelain, one of his new rugs for Safavieh Couture, features a series of childlike depictions of Chinese vases. The inspiration, Mr. O’Brien said, came from images of Chinese porcelain in a 1902 book. Cyrus Yaraghi, one of the five brothers who own Safavieh, said he was initially skeptical. “I said, ‘Thomas, are you sure?’ ” Mr. Yaraghi said. But any doubts were erased on Monday, when he hung the rug near a window in his Madison Avenue store and soon after a passer-by came in to buy it. Prices for the 20 wool-and-silk rugs in the new collection start at $2,595 for the 6-by-9-foot size and $3,845 for the 8-by-10-foot version. (Porcelain is $3,072 and $4,480, respectively.) Available at Safavieh, 153 Madison Avenue (32nd Street), (212) 683-8399, and later this year at Mr. O’Brien’s store, Aero, and other retailers.