Dezeen Magazine

Netherlands design duos to present rugs at Dutch Design Week

Dutch Design Week 2014: Rug company ICE International will launch a set of eight different carpets by individuals from four "design couples" – including Piet Hein Eek, Kiki van Eijk and  Joost van Bleiswijk – at next week's Dutch Design Week.

For its latest collection, ICE International commissioned Claire and Roderick Vos, Jeanine and Piet Hein Eek, Petra Janssen and Edwin Vollebergh, and Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk to contribute their own graphic for a hand-knotted wool and silk rug.

Each Netherlands-based designer came up with a rug in their signature style, forming a range called Dutch Landscapes.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Claire Vos & Roderick Vos
Claire Vos

Claire Vos used the gradients typical of her work in a grey rug, striped with reddish tones that blend outward from a central axis.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Claire Vos & Roderick Vos
Claire Vos

The rug was tufted by hand in India and then sheared to create a relief in the texture, so that two contrasting colours can be seen when viewed from different sides.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Claire Vos & Roderick Vos
Claire Vos

"For this reason I would like to see this rug being used wall to wall in a public space," said Vos. "I think it would have a hugely surprising effect to enter a space and see a rug in a specific colour, and then see a totally different colour when turning back from the other side of the space."

Dutch Landscape Rug by Claire Vos & Roderick Vos
Roderick Vos

Her partner Roderick Vos took fragments from multi-coloured motifs found on traditional Tibetan rugs to create his design.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Claire Vos & Roderick Vos
Roderick Vos

"I have always been fascinated by hand-knotted Tibetan rugs," he said. "I made a selection of the most interesting patterns from the past 200 years."

Dutch Landscape Rug by Claire Vos & Roderick Vos
Roderick Vos

The patterns are combined into a patchwork within different shapes that cover the rectangular design.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Piet Hein Eek
Piet Hein Eek

Piet Hein Eek's rug features a grid of thin lines, filled with circles that get smaller from the two ends to the centre.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Piet Hein Eek
Piet Hein Eek

The strips created by the pattern are sized to fit over linear blocks that form seating when placed underneath the carpet.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Piet Hein Eek
Piet Hein Eek

"I thought it would be an interesting feature if the carpet in a waiting room or lobby could also be used as a place to sit; this formed the foundation for the measurements and the design of my Dutch Landscape," said Eek.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Jeanine Eek Keizer
Jeanine Eek Keizer

His wife Jeanine Eek Keizer has designed a simple chevron pattern in neutral colours, so the rug can act as "the foundation of an interior".

Dutch Landscape Rug by Jeanine Eek Keizer
Jeanine Eek Keizer

"All furniture is placed on top or alongside it, so it should be a design in which aesthetics and practicality merge," she said.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Jeanine Eek Keizer
Jeanine Eek Keizer

Normally a ceramicist, the designer is used to seeing projects materialise in her studio rather than communicating long-distance with artisans in Nepal.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Edwin Vollebergh
Edwin Vollebergh

The music of British rock band The Rolling Stones provided the influence for the design by Edwin Vollebergh, which depicts a woman in a green dress tangled up by the tube of a vacuum cleaner.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Edwin Vollebergh
Edwin Vollebergh

"It is an homage to all housewives who are trapped in their homes and daily grind, struggling with all their obligations and tasks," said Vollebergh.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Edwin Vollebergh
Edwin Vollebergh

He approached the project as he would design a poster, using the carpet as a flat surface onto which he transferred bold graphics.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Petra Janssen
Petra Janssen

Petra Janssen aimed to create a Dutch version of the infamous Persian rug, using colours and patterns from folklore to create floral patterns.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Petra Janssen
Petra Janssen

"My Dutch Landscape follows the style characteristics of a Persian rug: decorative with stylised flower and leaf shapes and bright colours," she said.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Petra Janssen
Petra Janssen

A decorative border and strips that cross the rectangular carpet take reference from the ribbons of traditional dresses.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Joost van Bleiswijk
Joost van Bleiswijk

In Joost van Bleiswijk's simple design, the cream rug appears to have been coloured in and bordered with charcoal.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Joost van Bleiswijk
Joost van Bleiswijk

"I just drew what a rug is to me, only using a pencil, crude and no-nonsense, Bob's your uncle," he explained. "I focused on the presence of a rug and not on creating a loud graphic on the floor."

Dutch Landscape Rug by Joost van Bleiswijk
Joost van Bleiswijk

Although the different tones of grey were difficult to mimic with fabric, the hand-working of the rug allowed for the shading to be replicated as close as possible.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Kiki van Eijk
Kiki van Eijk

Finally, Kiki van Eijk translated one of her watercolour paintings of red and grey lines onto the rug.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Kiki van Eijk
Kiki van Eijk

"I was curious if I could capture my simple yet subtle painting in a rug, since I believe a rug equals a piece of art for the floor," said Van Eijk.

Dutch Landscape Rug by Kiki van Eijk
Kiki van Eijk

The silk fibres used in the carpet pile gave the finished product a quality that the designer didn't expect. "Normally watercolours have no shine, but in the rug, the silky glow creates the liquid effect of a brush stroke," she said.

Dutch Landscapes will be on show during Dutch Design Week, which takes place in Eindhoven from 18 to 26 October.