Dezeen Magazine

Tekla John Pawson blanket

John Pawson designs block-colour blanket collection for Tekla

John Pawson has collaborated with Danish brand Tekla on a collection of mohair blankets in four solid colours that draw on the changing seasons around his home in the English countryside.

The blanket comes in four colourways, a light grey, bright red, brown and burnt orange, and is made from 70 per cent mohair mixed with 30 per cent wool.

Tekla John Pawson blanket

As with his previous collection of dual-toned wool blankets, Pawson was influenced by the changing of the seasons and the light at his home in the Cotswolds in the English countryside.

"An important consideration for me is how the shift in seasons is reflected in the changing quality of the light and shadow and how this effects the way we experience colour and atmosphere in a space," said Pawson.

Tekla John Pawson blanket

The designer looked to the woods, hedgerows and agricultural landscapes that surround the property to decide on the particular shades in the collection.

"As I was editing the palette and focusing on specific shades, certain combinations of hues started to feel natural," he explained.

Pawson told Dezeen that because of wider associations, the colours "could be described as falling into the categories of autumn, winter, spring and summer".

"The theme of seasonal shift is also relevant in terms of the way it effects the quality of light in a space, which in turn profoundly effects the way you experience colours," he said. "They become more or less vibrant and texture is more or less easy to register."

Tekla John Pawson blanket

The designer also pointed to a red chair by Donald Judd that stands in his home as a key starting point for the collection.

"Observing how this piece sits in its space made me interested in exploring how a single colour or a combination of colours can have a relationship with nature and with an architectural environment, but also register as a striking, independent, point of focus," he said.

Tekla John Pawson blanket

As well as designing products, Pawson is well known for his architecture. Earlier this year he applied his minimal aesthetic to an apartment in London's Barbican estate, and he has also created a wooden chapel made from stacked tree trunks in southwest Germany.

"My creative process is grounded in the act of repeatedly pairing away until I reach the point when no improvement can be achieved by further refinement," Pawson told Dezeen.

"When the visual field has this clarity, everything you put into it contributes to or detracts from the quality of spatial intensity," he continued.

"In this sense a blanket can be as much a vehicle for generating atmosphere as the more obvious architectural components of a room."