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Rug Relationships: With so many carpet companies teaming up with artists and designers to create new collections, Lucy Upward looks at some of the best collaborations to discover what makes them work.
Collaborations between artists or individual designers and design companies are becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s market in which people are looking for the latest names and the hottest products. Top designers are happily turning to new disciplines but how easy is it? You only have to look at an initiative like Eureka, started by Design-Nation –a UK project uniting emerging designers with retail producers—to understand how exciting collaborative work can be. One success story emerging from this project is the outstanding rug that Scottish fabric and wallpaper designers Timorous Beasties achieved with UK rug giants Brintons last year.
The advantages are clear. The designers get to experience working in a different format with a completely new set of criteria, while the companies get fresh ideas and a whole new range of products to launch. For carpet companies, it is no different. As rug design becomes more pioneering, more diverse and also more popular, collaborating is a great way of expanding ranges. The striking designs of Italian company Fornasetti have been transformed into a rug collection for Roubini Rugs, New York; US rug company Tufenkian’s work with textile designer Mark Pollack illustrates how two large names can come together and produce a range of rugs that complements both parties’ work practices; Designer Rugs from Australia collaborate each year with a wide variety of artists, including set and costume designer Catherine Martin.
Whatever the nature of the collaboration, success in these partnerships is due to mutual respect for each other’s work and the ability to communicate well. As the artist Jacques Nimki, who recently worked with UK rug company Forty Thieves, says: “The best collaborations, whatever the medium, come about by those involved bringing what they are good at to the table without expecting a certain outcome.”
Rug Design Collaborations:
The Textile Designer
Mark Pollack, former Associate Design Director with Jack Lenor Larsen, Inc. founded his US-based textile design company Pollack back in 1987, wowing the crowds at the 1988 Neocon design fair. Twenty years later the company is an award-winning success story and Mark has teamed up with leading US carpet company Tufenkian to produce eight rug designs as part of their innovative Designers’ Reserve Collection.
James Tufenkian: “Because of Mark’s background in textiles, the decision to collaborate was obvious. I was drawn initially to the fact that he had the knowledge of and experience with the natural fibres that are used both in his textiles and in carpet-weaving. In the end this understanding of the nuances of his fabrics translated quite beautifully in the design and colours of the rugs. The individuality of Mark’s collection has brought a graphic geometric aesthetic that has not yet been represented in our line. Mark is a talented, original artist that I am really excited to have working with Tufenkian.
The response to the Mark Pollack Collection has been more than we expected. We have been able to provide great designs to not only contract and residential projects but also show houses. We knew we had something special, so the fact that both the collection and the collaboration have been embraced by the design community is really wonderful.”
Mark Pollack: “We started with my textile designs as a jumping off point. But even though the fibres were familiar, the techniques used to knot a carpet are quite different from the techniques used to weave a fabric. The different set of possibilities and constraints ended up giving the design a new character and life, a new personality.
Looking at what I got out of the collaboration, first and foremost, it was a chance to work with James and get to know him a bit. He is a true industry leader, in so many ways. Although I had designed carpets before, never rugs and not in twenty years. It was good to renew the challenge of looking at design from such a different perspective, literally and figuratively, than I ordinarily do.
Hopefully I’ll get a new rug for my apartment, but I can’t decide which!”
Highlighted Product
Above images are Zigzaggery Quarry and Box Step River Grass
For more information contact your local Authorized Tufenkian Dealer or visit a Tufenkian Showroom in your area.
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