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.
The Masterly Hotel concept designed by Edward van Vliet inside Palazzo Francesco Turati in Milan with custom-designed Moooi Carpet. Photography © Nicole Marnati c/o Moooi Carpets.
"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
Walking on Clouds designed by Front for the Moooi Carpets Signature Tiles collection. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
The Masterly Hotel concept designed by Edward van Vliet inside Palazzo Francesco Turati in Milan with custom-designed Moooi Carpet, and following. Photography © Nicole Marnati c/o Moooi Carpets.
The interior of the 1788 Felix Meritis building on the Kaizersgracht in Amsterdam, transformed with custom colour from the Signature Broadloom colleciton. Photo © Ewout Huibers c/o Moooi Carpets.
Hibou by Marcel Wanders is part of the Moooi Carpets Signature Tile colleciton. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
The Moooi Carpets Trichroic design by Rive Roshan for the Signature Tile colleciton. Inside Moooi's studio in Amsterdam, the Trichroic carpet tiles add subtle colour, optical illusion and movement to the interior through the combination of intricate shifting lines and soft colour gradients. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
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The Biophillia Blue Black range designed by Kit Miles for the Signature Broadloom and Rugs collections. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
Tartan Haze Blue designed by Marcel Wanders Studio is part of the Signature Broadloom collection. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
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The National Maritime Museum, Amsterdam, features Dutch Sky by Edward van Vliet for the Signature Broadloom collection. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
The Art Friedman Benda Gallery in New York featuring Fool's Paradise Signature Broadloom designed by Marcel Wanders. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
The launch of the Museum of Extinct Animals collection at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2018. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
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'The Museum of Extinct Animals' includes the 'Menagerie of Extinct Animals' and 10 extraordinary designs that highlight each animan's history and legend. Photo c/o Moooi Carpets.
“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 Marriner Suite at the Princess Theatre designed by Geraldine Maher, Maher Design, featuring Fool's Paradise by Marcel Wanders for Moooi Carpets. Photo c/o Marriner Group.
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.
