Marcel Wanders launched Moooi Carpets in 2015 to complement Moooi's furniture collection well-known for its adventurous design collaborations and experiments, and in the process created a richly layered range of evocative carpets shaped by the brand's fascination with design and its ability to surprise and delight us.
Design research and novel print technologies would be the catalyst for the Moooi Carpets concept, and an opportunity Moooi had spotted for reinventing the traditional rug. Using a 100-metre long printer and more than 600 colours, it was the first time in the world of rug making that technology would achieve such high definition accuracy and the mesmerising illusion of depth. Another of Moooi's breakthroughs was the ability to adapt the technology to print photo-realistic patterns onto natural wool and create the seductive, colour-saturated imagery on its woollen carpets too.
Working with creative studios around the world, from designers Tricia Guild, Kiki van Eijk, Luca Nichetto and architects Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu of Neri & Hu, to Swedish design duo Sofia Lagerkvist and Anna Lindgren of Front, and Melbourne artist Sonya Pletes, Moooi has developed one of the largest networks of design collaborators and a carpet collection as deep as it is wide.
For creatives who want to design their own carpet, Moooi has a Moooi Custom Carpets range which they describe as "the silent friends of any interior environment". The ‘Custom Configurator' tool lets designers customise a range of carpets, with the Moooi design team releasing four new patterns every two months. The catalogue of designs can be tweeked to suit a specific brief using a selection of colours, shapes and sizes. For projects with more specific requirements, Moooi offers the 'Your Own Design' service that gives clients the flexibility to design a carpet from scratch.
"Moooi doesn’t tell designers what to do, but listens to what designers want to make, try to realise their dreams. Eclectic and always on the edge of commercial reality and cultural interest."
Moooi
“I first saw Fool's Paradise at the Moooi Pavilion during Milan Design week. The design is simultaneously vibrant and dark – the intensity of the botanical design exudes a moody glamour that perfectly complements the dramatic dark walls and lush velvet furnishings in the newly transformed private suites of the Princess Theatre."
Geraldine Maher, Maher Design
The Moooi Signature collections include Signature Rugs, Signature Broadlooms and Signature Tiles with more than 80 patterns available in polyamide or wool. Moooi’s creative shake-up of the traditional rug has seen the collection transform the interiors of galleries, hotels, offices, restaurants and homes, from the Edward van Vliet installation at the Palazzo Francesco Turati in Milan and the Hyatt Hotel in Amsterdam, to the Art Friedman Benda Gallery in New York and the Maison Decorte in Tokyo, and most recently the refurbishment of Melbourne's Princess Theatre.
“I first saw Fool's Paradise at the Moooi Pavilion during Milan Design week", remarks Geraldine Maher who selected the richly layered botanical design for three new private suites her studio designed inside Melbourne's iconic Princess Theatre. "The design is simultaneously vibrant and dark – the intensity of the botanical design exudes a moody glamour that perfectly complements the dramatic dark walls and lush velvet furnishings in the newly transformed private suites of the Princess Theatre. They possess a luxurious modern spirit with a nod to the past."
Other design highlights from the collection include Biophilia by Kit Miles, a British textile designer whose fascination with the rich synergy between plants and animals comes to life in Biophillia’s mesmerising patterns. Hand-drawn dragonflies, flora and surreal plants provide a window into the natural world and demonstrate the technological breadth of the printing process and the research undertaken by the Moooi team. For the launch of the Museum of Extinct Animals collection in Milan, Moooi searched museum archives to find drawings of some of the animals the world has lost. The collection features 10 extraordinary animals and brings their stories into focus. The designs are inspired by the beautiful colours, structures and patterns of fur, plumage and skin, of animals including the Sloth, Bearded Leopard, Flying Coral Fish, Dwarf Rhinossaurus and Calligraphy Bird, brought vividly back to life along with their legends.
"Thanks to the use of an extremely soft and comfy high pile yarn, high-resolution prints bring the animals back into our lives, untamed and beautiful", Moooi remarked during Milan Design Week in 2018. With multi-layered, sharp and vibrant weaves and prints central to each carpet collection, Moooi's inspiraton overflows with imagination and beauty that is often found in unexpected places.
Moooi Carpets are available exclusively from Space – Australia and Space – Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.