Search

Topissimo Collection by Nanimarquina

Barcelona-based rug studio nanimarquina, founded in 1987 by Nani Marquina, has been creating contemporary textiles for the floor crafted in India, Morocco, Pakistan, and Spain. This month’s Deconstruction takes us to India, for the manufacture of one of the company’s most popular, and surely the most fun (polka dots in relief!): a fuchsia and purple concoction from the Topissimo collection, which won a Red Dot Design Award in 2003.

Above: Nani Marquina with some of the women who manufactured the Topissimo Collection in the Indian workshops.

The Topissimo Collection was designed by Nani Marquina in 2002. These are the first design sketches.

This drawing details the final layout pattern for one of the colorways of the collection.

The entire collection is handmade in India. This photo shows the stock of New Zealand wool in the Indian workshops.

After drawing the pattern on the cloth, the artisan starts fillings the dots randomly using a hand-tufting gun.

This is a view of the back of the loom. Once the craftspeople finish filling in the dots, they start tufting the base color.

This collection is done in different colors. This photo shows different looms during the manufacturing process.

View of the front loom during the tufting process.

Different hand tools are used throughout. This is a knife used in the latexing process.

The rug has to be put in a frame before putting the latex on to fix the wool.

These are tools for manual cutting and finishing.

The craftsmen use scissors to carve and define each dot.

Another shot of the carving, now with additional color wools.

More than one craftsman carve at one time.

The carving is almost complete in this area of the rug.

A craftsman combs the rug with a special brush.

A woman polishes up the last details, like taking out some remaining threads, and cleaning the rug.

The finished product!

Marni Elyse Katz is a Contributing Editor at Design Milk. She lives in Boston where she contributes regularly to local publications and writes her own interior design blog, StyleCarrot.