In this installment of his weekly interview series, Cut to the Chaise, AD’s intrepid West Coast editor, Mayer Rus, meets Sir Paul Smith for a cup of tea.

Mayer Rus: I’ve been a big fan of yours for years, even if a lot of your menswear designs are not exactly tailored for the big-boned tastemaker, shall we say. Paul Smith: That jacket you’re wearing fits very nicely. I’m pleased to see it again.

MR: I was wondering if you’d noticed. It’s about 15 years old, but I still love it. When Catherine Deneuve went to Yves Saint Laurent shows, she always pulled out some fabulous YSL getup. So I thought it only appropriate to dress myself in Paul Smith finery for our chat. PS: Very thoughtful.

MR: I should say mazel tov on your 15th anniversary collection for the Rug Company. How did the collaboration get started? PS: I really didn’t want to do rugs and I’d said no to others, but [Rug Company founder] Chris [Sharp] persuaded me. He’s a beast.

MR: A sexy beast. How did he sway you? PS: I was in my shop in Notting Hill, where I used to work one day a week. Chris was getting a bespoke suit fitted and introduced himself. He told me about what he does, and I was impressed by the quality of the product—hand-knotted, hand-dyed, and all that. There are so many rugs that are quite nice-looking but there’s no quality about them.

MR: How did you find the design process? PS: It felt like a natural progression from my day job. When you’re doing intarsia knitwear, you’re used to playing with yarns and seeing color and pattern possibilities. I think I drove the dye masters in Nepal mad. One poor man spent weeks working out the 55 colors in the Oriental Birds design, which is something very special. It’s a move on from the really geometric work we’ve done with the Rug Company in the past. I think it’s the right time to bring figurative pattern back into rugs, and I’ve always been inspired by the stately old English homes that have a feel of chinoiserie.

MR: Gorgeous. But I still love the geometrics, like Carnival, which reminds me of a Walead Beshty photograph. PS: I developed that pattern by layering strips of colored tissue paper. I’ve always played with stripes, so it was obvious that the first thing I did for the Rug Company 15 years ago was a classic Paul Smith multi-stripe. In the new collection, I play with stripes seen through prisms.

MR: How would you describe the spirit of the designs? PS: I think they’re happy rugs. They’re good conversation pieces, like pieces of art on the floor.

MR: You seem like a happy fellow yourself. PS: What can I say? I love life. I’m blessed with getting up every day and feeling positive. I still have a great passion for what I do.

MR: I could use a little of whatever you’re taking, but that’s between me and my psychopharmacologist. What else have you been working on? PS: Last year I designed a new version of the classic Anglepoise lamp that every young student in England has. That was fun. I’ve also done a collaboration with Leica on a limited-edition camera. It sold out in eight days. I’m an amateur photographer, and I remember that my dad always wanted a Leica, so that project was quite rewarding.

MR: I imagine it’s no accident that many of your projects have a personal connection. PS: I try to do things that have a real sincerity and truth about them. I recently did a bespoke Land Rover Defender . I drive a Defender. To put your name on a car that you have no affection for is not interesting.

A custom Land Rover Defender designed by Sir Paul Smith.

MR: Do you know that your pink emporium on Melrose Avenue [in Los Angeles] is something of a local landmark? PS: Yes! It’s heavily Instagrammed. One day a person showed up with a couch to get their photo taken. We’ve also seen pictures of people posing in front of the shop nude.

MR: Whose idea was it to paint the exterior entirely in pink? PS: That was my idea. We design all of our stores in-house. The building was a framemakers shop with a funny roof. Since no one walks in L.A., we decided to make the store a landmark for motorists. We turned it into a simple box, like a shoebox, and painted it in this delicious, Luis Barragán pink.

MR: My place in New York is close to your little shop on lower Fifth Avenue. I’ve always loved the vibe there. PS: Yes, I like that one very much as well. I remember when we decided to keep the shop open in the days following 9/11. There was a steady stream of neighborhood people coming in just for a cuddle or a hug. The mahogany is so homey that you get inside and you feel safe.

MR: Do you enjoy coming to L.A.? This place is overrun with Brits, so it can’t feel too foreign. PS: As a man who experienced the ’60s, I grew up with a romantic notion of L.A. as the land of Joni Mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon, and all that. I also loved the sparkly bits, Hollywood, Nudie Cohn, who was a brilliant costume designer. He did Elvis, John Wayne, Elton John. That seemed like pure L.A.

MR: When did you first come here? PS: 1978, I think. We came to New York a few years earlier. Back then, my wife and I would show up in New York and turn nocturnal for a few weeks. We practically lived at Studio 54. But I can’t take any credit for that. My wife would wear her fabulous Yves Saint Laurent red fox jacket and flash her lovely smile, and we always got in.

MR: Sounds very glamorous—and a lot more enjoyable than talking about rugs with me. PS: I’m having fun. Aren’t you?