Sinead Hanlon owns and runs The Knot Collective, and she says: “we make graphic art rugs made from 100% recycled plastic.” The Collective’s debut design collaboration is with Stefan Sagmeister, and the premiere rug release, called “Comb,” is Sagmeister’s first foray into the rug world and “stays true to his intriguing style,” says Hanlon. Below is an added interview with Hanlon.
Stefan Sagmeister: Comb.
Sagmeister’s limited edition art rugs will be produced at Goodweave certified mills using 100% recycled P.E.T yarn, meaning more than 3,850 plastic bottles will be diverted from a landfill for every rug sold. A portion of the profit from each sale will be donated to aid Goodweave’s vital work.
“The idea came from the fact that my carpet fringes always seem to be an unruly mess. I pictured a large comb on the rug, which may be able to help with that,” said Sagmeister. “So much has been said about this by designers everywhere. It had become something designers just say – to me these comments have become almost meaningless. I would like the fact that my rug for The Knot Collective is made entirely of post-consumer plastic to speak for itself.”
Comb will be available in a limited edition of 12 in a choice of 5 different sizes from 150x200cm – 400x533cm, costing between £540.00 and £2,160.00 exclusively from knotcollective.com.
The Knot Collective avoids using precious hydrocarbons to create its polyester material, which in turn reduces energy consumption for manufacturing by 66%, greenhouse gas emissions by over 34% and water consumption by nearly 50%.
Designer rugs are a venerable genre. Other rugs in The Knot Collective collection conjure up Futurism and other modern arts. View the collection here.
Luke Insect: Magik Sunrise
Kate Moross
What inspired you to start Knot Collective?
After years of working within various advertising and design agencies we were sick of hearing the same old “creative” cock and bull story about creative work, we felt the ad world was deluded in the fact that really at the end of the day you’re selling more rubbish in a world of over consumption and not creating a work of art. So we’d been searching for something to do and escape the advertising world.
The idea actually came from a chance encounter with a Persian Rug – we thought what an amazing thing it was – the craft – it was mind boggling the skill level of the craft that goes into them – about a week afterwards whist sitting on the tube an idea presented itself getting graffiti artists to create one off rugs. This idea then took us on a journey – creating our first exhibition with 12 artists and basically going on from there.
The recycled part of the business I think has come as a backlash to all those years helping to sell goods that are destroying our planet. We want to be able to say to our kids that in the future we decided to make a stand and at least do something to help clean up the planet – by recycling post-consumer waste and creating into something beautiful to be kept and cherished.
What are your criteria for choosing an artist?
We like to choose people who work on the “fringes” of the art and design world. They’ve got very distinct styles and will produce designs that will sit outside the usual realms of what is expected of a rug – something exciting. Not commercial as it were.
Do you have a background in textiles?
When we first started we had no experience in textiles at all, we had no clue in how they were made, how to import them – we were completely clueless. We’ve made so many mistakes along the way. But after 7 years we’re still learning new things. It’s funny as quite a lot of our skills from the advertising world have been transferred across quite nicely – especially when it comes to concept work and pitching for new work. But the good thing is we’re making amazing products at the end of it.
The rugs are like paintings or posters underfoot, would you agree?
Yes. The whole idea is taking the concept of the limited–edition print – a piece of art for the wall – but being able to roll it out on the floor.
How has been the reception?
It has been really positive, people have been embracing it from all angles within our customer base, design and interior design community. The environmental purpose to the collection has really evoked allot of support and we like that we can use the rugs as a platform for wider environmental and ethical issues And the zero editions of most of the collective on have sold out but we are launching the full editions over the next week. We want the rugs to be accessible for all types of consumers so each rug can be bought through a payment plan to spread the cost out over several months.