In recent years with technological advances and the pandemic crisis, we crave nature more than ever. We rediscover the close human connection to nature with a new appreciation of its comforting and soothing abilities and challenge ourselves to rethink the use of natural resources. Humbly and respectfully, we’ve come to realise that we’re just a small microbe in a big organism. A symbiotic relationship where we must be as good to nature as it is to us.
Rough Nature and Fine Nature vary in the ways they evoke your familiar senses, notions and references of nature for future inspiration and creation.
When approaching nature from a trend perspective, it makes sense to distinguish between Rough Nature and Fine Nature since these slightly different directions vary in the ways they evoke your familiar senses, notions and references of nature for future inspiration and creation.
Rough Nature explores the untouched, overwhelming rawness that can be almost intimidating, reminding us of our own fragility and insignificance. From a distance, we’re fascinated by chaotic, organic elements that have been around for centuries showing off all their perfect imperfections. Cracked, faded and worn by time, the stunning and dramatic surfaces reveal themselves, softened by myriad tones of warmth and dryness.
Stine Mikkelsen is one of a new generation of designers who work in the field between craft and design, innovation and tradition. She grew up on the small Danish island of Ærø where she’s interpreted surfaces from the local harbour environment. By using methods from textile design, she’s created a collection of objects based on unexpected material manipulations. Tactile Monoliths are inspired by the rough and tactile colonies of barnacles on boats standing on land.
To visualise the Rough Nature trend further, these items can make a very tangible starting point in your interior design process:
Our diverse carpet assortment allows for many Rough Nature interpretations in your interior design. The tactility of our three-dimensional ReForm collections fits perfectly into the rustic and worn look as exemplified by ReForm A New Wave below. This collection adds texture and pattern through the innovative surfaces featuring loops in various sizes and heights. A New Wave interprets the untouched Danish West coast in three design stories about the dramatic landscape. A sculptural simplicity is the essence of the constructions reflecting the Sand, Grass and Ocean motifs. All patterns feature an obvious presence of the rough nature in constant change.
Rough Nature carpet design also materialises through exquisite colour combinations and clearly defined patterns inspired by nature. For instance, our Highline Express Nature collection brings the outdoors inside with a range of beautiful designs varying in their brightness and degree of abstraction.
The below Leaf Texture pattern exemplifies how our advanced colouration technique masters to mimic the countless fine and extremely thin lines of a delicate leaf on an even carpet surface. Take a closer look and be immersed in the level of detail.
Fine Nature invites us to take a closer look. It welcomes us to investigate, learn and discover every little detail as if we’re looking through a microscope. Sensing the grainy sand dunes and wavy grass fields while examining spindly leaf skeletons, faded fibres and optimistic seeds from wildflowers. Dots and spots, curves and lines in different sizes and textures with washed-out tones of green and brown all contribute to a harmonious and tranquil environment that we not only observe but also immerse ourselves in.
Eric Klarenbeek and Maartje Dros from Studio Klarenbeek & Dros research the potential of algae as an alternative to fossil based non-biodegradable plastics. They work on a local and closed loop production system, the Seaweed Cycle, cultivating algae and processing it into materials that can replace traditional plastics, both in the industry or locally on 3D printers. This algae polymer can be turned into everyday items, from shampoo bottles to bowls.
Algae cultivation is interesting because of their broad potential; no need for land and fresh water, and they’re the most efficient organisms at filtering and binding CO2 from the sea and the atmosphere. The algae are converted into biopolymers, the mineral-rich water is used by farmers and the waste product is clean air.
The delicate and close-up ambience of the Fine Nature trend materialises in below and similar elements that you can try to fit into or interpretate in your creative work:
Through their tight, minimalistic and repetitive constructions, our flat-woven collections are obvious examples of Fine Nature carpet. Eco Rustic radiates age-old craftsmanship transposed into a raw, high quality look. The variation in texture imparts both a random and tightly organised look, in exactly the same way as the rustic appearance of knitted material. Colour-wise, the collection is inspired by natural materials such as stone, bark and soil, aged over time by nature’s gentle yet wild phenomena. The colour palette therefore reflects varied shades of beige, grey and brown, fully in keeping with classic rooms and interiors. For bold statement floors, the collection offers a number of bright colours.
ReForm Memory represents another collection embracing the Fine Nature trend. The marriage of a complex structured multi-level loop and digital colouration gives Memory a truly unique expression. The collection comprises 3 designs, each in 9 architectural colours. The colour palette is structured around light, medium and dark tones, which can be used in combination to reflect the social aspect of the office space. Or you can play with tonal range and accent colour to create neighborhoods, way-finding etc.
In our Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen showrooms, we welcome you to a sensuous experience where nature has entered the room with contrasts and balance, shifts and rhythms and where rough meets fine in a tactile universe of patterns, textures and lines. With this exhibition, we strive to give a sensual but also functional interpretation of nature and its different dimensions.
True is a series of exhibitions developed by Gabriel and Ege Carpets for our shared showrooms in Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen. True is the headline for the co-operation between our 2 well established textile companies that share the love of good, honest materials and have a strong sense of responsibility. The ambition is to create inspiring themed exhibitions that’ll lift the experience of our products to a higher level and create a united universe where we invite and attract architects to explore and discover.
Humbly and respectfully, we’ve come to realise that we’re just a small microbe in a big organism. A symbiotic relationship where we must be as good to nature as it is to us.
The exhibitions aim to not only feature textiles and carpets but also designs, pieces of arts and innovations from other companies and artists to motivate, touch or even challenge the viewer and to create new relationships with interesting working partners that’ll help us move forward. The exhibitions will change 1-2 times a year and the first of its kind is True Nature, which is curated by Rikke Skytte, future analyst in design, architecture and human behaviour.
Fishing nets and plastic bottles are excellent resources for doing good. We want to contribute to a more sustainable world, which is why we use yarn recycled or regenerated from plastic waste. Post-consumer waste plastic bottles become beautiful textiles for upholstery, while industrial waste such as fishing nets is broken down to its original chemical formula and transformed into yarn for carpet, which is also regenerable and can be incorporated into a closed loop system.
We’re more than pleased to invite you into our Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen showrooms to experience the True Nature exhibitions. Reach out to your local consultant to arrange your guided tour – we can’t wait to inspire you!
