Denmark-based Ege Carpets has introduced the SHE collection to the American market. Designed by Laura Bilde and Linnea Ek Blæhr, the line celebrates notable female creatives, from Sonia Delaunay to Anni Albers. “We have mainly been inspired by women who executed their art during the 1930s,” Bilde said. “There was a new understanding of form and colors, which laid the foundation for a fresh start in design. We crafted new expressions from their methods of working.”
The collection captures the unique expression of striations that are drawn, cut, or fused together. The duo experimented with traditional practices to enliven each surface, echoing the signature fabrics of Functionalism. “We worked with collages to design each of the six patterns by hand, thereby adding subtle, imperfect lines to the carpets, with a focus on repetition, rhythm, and geometry,” Blæhr explained.
Photos courtesy of Ege Carpets
The resulting aesthetic, dubbed “imperfectly perfect,” is achieved with the company’s WOOL100 pure new wool yarn, which is spun from extra-long fibers. The designers used a specific yarn twisting technique, resulting in distinctive textural effects and hints of randomness. “There is a playfulness throughout the collection,” noted Alex Lerian, general manager, Ege Carpets Americas. “Laura and Linnea were able to push the envelope with colors, from more bold to subtle.”
Bilde and Blæhr didn’t completely overlook men, as they conceptualized the collection with references to Le Corbusier’s signature hues. The architect created two groups of tints in 1931 and 1959, a standardized palette that he called Architectural Polychromy. Le Corbusier also made color keyboards, which each produce a certain atmospheric effect.
In a similar fashion, the shades of SHE can be paired in a number of harmonious clusters. ”The colors are very contrasting, but they somehow merge very naturally,” Bilde said. “By combining them in different ways, we can create 48 options, which makes the SHE collection quite versatile.”
At Ege Carpets, elements are maximized to showcase the natural beauty of the material. For SHE, the company utilized their Colortec process, which features pre-dyed wool yarn. It allows for clearly defined pattern and design outputs to have tailored looks in any interior. “It’s an industry-leading manufacturing technology, and the dyes are already determined,” Lerian said. “Clients can also have something made, and choose from more than 2,500 colors.”
Bespoke flooring continues to gain in popularity for commercial spaces that have a more comfortable hospitality feel. “The majority of our business is custom, and the requirement now to get people back into the office is a landscape of better design,” Lerian added. “The flooring should integrate with the walls and the light fixtures. With our custom capabilities, we can enhance the tactility or find a perfect tone that is more elevated compared to a standard application.”
Style and care for the environment are not mutually exclusive, and all of the carpets are viewed via a holistic lens. “Art and design has always been a driving force for Ege Carpets, but sustainability is a big focus for us,” Lerian said. Indeed, with Ecotrust backings of PET felt to the replacement of latex-based glue with a laminate film made from broken car windows, which would have otherwise ended up in landfills, planet-first strategies are embraced at every level.
Highline is another standout example. It ensures color fastness for the life of the flooring, and approximately 80% of the dye is re-circulated. Specifiers are no longer looking for a quick fix, but they want to make a lasting impact. “There are a lot of recycling programs in the industry, but we want to get to full circularity,” Lerian noted. “Here we can take one of our used carpets and repurpose it fully into a brand new one. We lead with innovative products that are really sustainable, and that is very appealing to architects and designers.”
It’s a vision that also resonates with Bilde and Blæhr, who have now completed two collections for Ege Carpets. “This has proven to be a fruitful collaboration, through the fusion of Ege’s extensive expertise in and knowledge of carpet production, and our conceptual approach as designers,” Blæhr added.
