COOL carpets and outrageous designer rugs aren't a new invention.

Way back in 1954, Glasgow's Templeton's carpet factory was called upon to weave a special creation for some very choosy customers.

This carpet, designed in the shape of an artist's pain palette, complete with splodges of colour to resemble paint, was getting a final Hoover before it was dispatched to Canada where, depending on which original caption you believe, it was to take pride of place in either a wealthy artist's studio, or an art club in Montreal.

Knowing how mucky studios get, our money is on the latter explanation.

If any of our Canadian cousins know of the carpet - ex-pat Scots in Canada read the Evening Times online, perhaps they's like to let us know if they've ever trodden its arty pile.