The Salone del Mobile in Milan is always an inspiring experience, both for attendees and for those of us participating by presenting our new products. This year, master Kengo Kuma has once again marvelled us with the design he created for our stand: a structure of beautiful wooden slats, which conveyed the essence of traditional Japanese construction, and soft partitions in the form of bands, made with recycled PET fabrics developed in collaboration with the artisans of GAN.
These fabrics, like light rugs, are part of an investigation that the architect has developed with GAN for the new limited edition furniture collection Hos, created for GANDIABLASCO EDITION. This was not the first time that GAN collaborated with Kengo Kuma, as the Japanese master had already created the Goz rug collection that we launched in 2022. "With the Goz collection, I addressed the natural feel of wool in combination with wood. In Hos, I found it interesting to experiment with the texture of recycled PET, also combining it with wood," the architect explained.
With the Hos collection, Kengo Kuma has explored the possibilities of fabrics made with recycled PET fibers, creating a series of textiles with the consistency of a rug inspired by phenomena and natural elements, such as rain, soil, or fog, which he has used as a membrane in combination with different wooden frames to design furniture with a very architectural structure.
From this design, he created that of the stand, generating a sequence of visually interconnected spaces: "Hos is a furniture collection, but it was created with the intention of having a significant impact on an entire space, also functioning as spatial design," the architect explained. "Fabrics like those of Hos can be used not only to design furniture, but also as partitions and, increasingly, in the creation of architectural interiors. Personally, I find this idea quite interesting because I believe that architecture will move in the future towards greater softness," Kengo Kuma pointed out.
In such a poetic context, we presented our new rugs, signed by Bodo Sperlein, José A. Gandía-Blasco Canales, Romero & Vallejo, Sandra Figuerola and Studio Terhedebrügge.
BOTANICA: Organicism, movement, and expressiveness of nature
The BOTANICA collection is the result of the first collaboration between GAN and Bodo Sperlein. Known for his lush and sensory way of integrating artisanal production processes with organic and contemporary designs, the surfaces of the rugs in the BOTANICA collection have a strong biophilic character that establishes a direct connection between the spaces in which they are integrated and nature.
Bodo Sperlein has achieved his high level of detail in the representation of the drawing and its pronounced volumetric effect through a careful selection of the nuances of each color, different pile heights, and the use of two artisanal techniques, hand-tufting and carving. By using gradients and subtle changes in hue, the BOTANICA rugs create an illusion of depth and movement, which enhances their organic fluidity and their three-dimensional presence.
TRAMAS: The deconstruction of warp and weft
The TRAMAS collection is a design by the Romero & Vallejo studio that explores the aesthetic and manual crafting possibilities with the hand loom technique when different types of materials are mixed in the same piece, generating a composition with a very graphic character. The meticulousness required for its execution means that they can only be made on manually operated looms.
In this collection, it is as if during the conception of its design, the framework had been deconstructed to generate a new type of weft, with a different manufacturing process, other materials, and a novel aesthetic. This entire process has been translated into a seemingly very simple design in the form of a graphic weave that, as in painting or graphic design, generates an effect of depth and three dimensions visually and, in this case, also spatially as it is a rug.
MOMOS: Three-dimensional embroideries with a social dimension
The inspiration for the MOMOS collection arose on a trip through the north of Brazil, more than twenty years ago, when José A. Gandía-Blasco Canales was struck by a local textile craft in the state of Maranhão. Since then, that curious fabric remained in his memory until, together with the embroidery skills of our artisans at the GAN Women Unit, he has managed to reinterpret it and transfer it in a three-dimensional way to the design of a collection of rugs, poufs, and cushions.
MOMOS is a collection whose inspiration arises in Brazil, its design in Spain, and its execution in India. It never ceases to be surprising how through the craftsmanship of different places in the world, it is possible to establish links, developing designs with a strong contemporary character, reinterpreted with the know-how of our artisan teams in India.
VANGUARDIAS: Groundbreaking and explosive geometries and colors
Our new VANGUARDIAS kilim collection, designed by Sandra Figuerola, is a true explosion of geometry and color that arrives ready to break with prevailing schemes of sobriety. Some bold rugs, with oversized drawings, a forceful stroke, and intense colors, as is usually the case in the style of the Valencian graphic designer, a collaborator of GAN since our beginnings.
Sandra Figuerola often draws from the geometric designs that emerged in the avant-garde for the conception of many of her projects, not only textiles. With the design of the VANGUARDIAS kilims, she sought to create an element that could become the focal point of a space, like a work of art: a simple piece that, being a very accessible resource, would be capable of generating a great visual and spatial impact.
RETI: The rhythm hidden in a checkered pattern made with recycled PET fibers
The RETI collection is a proposal from the German studio Terhedebrügge with a noticeable graphic inspiration, as it recreates a grid transferred to a rug using the hand loom technique. Its appearance may recall the grids used in graphic design to work on editorial compositions, but also that of an urban layout or a notebook.
RETI is, furthermore, a collection of rugs made with PET fibers recycled, so they can be placed in both indoor and outdoor environments. Due to their design, they fit both in a living room, as well as in a workspace or a terrace.
Soon we will have all these new products available in our new catalog.
