Jaime Hayon’s latest rug collection, Troupe, with Nanimarquina.
Photo: Albert Font
Artists Jaime Hayon and Claudia Valsells Create Dreamy Rugs for Nanimarquina
The creatives diverge from their usual mediums to conjure colorful floor coverings that rival any work of art
Tones 1 rug by Claudia Valsells. Photo: Albert Font
Spanish artists Jaime Hayon and Claudia Valsells have created a pair of dreamy rug collaborations for Nanimarquina, the eco-chic rug company known for its high-end designer collections. The pieces were unveiled at this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan at a booth designed by Arquitectura-G that was piled high with wool leftovers, a dramatic illustration of the brand’s mission to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by reusing waste.
Hayon’s work, which represents an ongoing partnership with Nanimarquina, is called Troupe and features a dreamlike design available in two different sizes. Set against a neutral backdrop, a whimsical riot of imaginative creatures and mythological symbols seem to float through space. Such humorous figures are hallmarks of Hayon’s practice, which encompasses everything from art and furniture to interiors and textiles.
Troupe by Jaime Hayon. Photo: Albert Font
“The color is about balance, it’s like cooking. You have to put in the right amount all the time,” the Hayon Studio founder said in a statement. “So, when you make a composition, the composition needs air, and it needs color balance. It’s all about balance at the end.” The biodegradable, hand-tufted design is made using 100 percent New Zealand wool and is woven in Nanimarquina’s workshops, which are located in India and Pakistan.
Pieces, from the Tones collection by Claudia Valsells. Photo: Albert Font
For her four designs, Valsells, a Barcelona-based painter, took a different approach, utilizing irregular blocks of color to create painterly abstractions that perfectly complement a range of contemporary interiors. Called Tones, the line includes patterns that are rife with an array of shades, an aesthetic choice the designer relates to musical notes. “The colors of the Tones collection are conceived from the instruments in an orchestra—the toasted colors of the strings, the grays and blues of the wind instruments, and the ochers of the percussion,” she said. “Forms emerged from that chromatic universe, and I just had to play with composing them in a way that could be reproduced on different scales and that was harmonious.”
Tones utilizes the same hand-tufted process as Hayon’s pieces, but Valsells’s four designs are also available in another method called kilim, which is an ancient hand-loom technique that produces a flat-weave. In this process, the weft is tighter and denser than the warp, which gives each piece, crafted using Afghani wool, a unique appearance that is full of surprises.
Cover: Jaime Hayon’s latest rug collection, Troupe, with Nanimarquina.
Photo: Albert Font
