Rug designer Nani Marquina is like a modern artist frustrated with the confines of the traditional square canvas. From stepped-border rugs to rug headboards, she has been pushing the boundaries of this most historic of home furnishings since starting her family-run rug design business, Nanimarquina, in Barcelona, in 1987.
From U.N. to Google
Today, Nanimarquina rugs grace United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and the offices of new media companies such as Google and Facebook. Although her products speak to contemporary tastes, she insists that her designs are intended to be timeless and she hopes that her rugs will be passed down through generations.
“We like long-lasting products,” she told ArchiExpo e-Magazine during a recent visit to the Vitra Axor showroom in New York City’s Meatpacking District during the high end luxury furniture fair ICFF, “Wool is very traditional to each country and culture, and historically a rug was passed down from fathers to sons, and was a way to transmit messages within a family.”
Months to Weave
Lattice designed by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec. Courtesy of Nanimarquina.
Marquina was at Vitra Axor showroom to celebrate the U.S. debut of Lattice, a kilim rug she developed in conjunction with the renowned design duo Ronan Bouroullec and Erwan Bouroullec. It takes a single weaver months to create a single Lattice rug and it’s easy to see why. Lattice is designed in discrete sections with bands of deep blues, reds and whites that don’t align. At first, it appears that this lopsided array of color bands is a series of different rugs sewn together, but in fact it is one piece, woven on one loom.
Lattice was displayed at the Vitra store along with Losanges, another Bouroullec-Nanimarquina collaboration, that consists of a panoply of different-sized and vibrantly colored squares framed in red borders. A decidedly bold and busy piece, Losanges is finished in scalloped edges and serves as more adventuresome alternative to the more restrained Lattice.
Collaborating Since 2008
Losanges rug designed by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec in 2011. Courtesy of Nanimarquina.
Nani Marquina and the Bouroullecs have been collaborating since 2008. The rugs that they have designed together complement the Bouroullecs’ concern with furniture that is adjustable and can be arranged to fit the varied tastes of a wide array of clients from around the world.
“We share the same values in terms of how we understand design,” says Marquina, “With them, it is very important to work with traditional techniques, but also to innovate.”
