26th August 2019

PLAYING WITH PAINT

Ulster Carpets explain how they have met the unusual challenge of creating a carpet that looks like it is covered in paint…

At Ulster Carpets, we are finding that interior designers are becoming more daring by the day and the fact that many of them know what we can actually achieve with carpet design means they have now become focused on using flooring to make a statement and create art.

For the Abbey Hotel, Melissa Bramall from Street Design Partnership had a very distinctive and detailed vision that took inspiration from Bath’s thriving art scene. This permeates every aspect of the hotel, but the best example of this is in the Art Bar.

Building on the bar’s reputation for being a quirky venue, Melissa’s ‘artist in residence’ concept aims to replicate the natural markings that would occur in an artist’s private studio. For the carpet, that means splatters, drips and smears of paint.

This unusual design is not something we have been asked to do before, so the starting point was, as always, in Ulster’s Design Portal, which contains thousands of designs. Here, our designers found a few brush stroke layers which provided them with the inspiration from which to develop this concept further.

The whole look evolved over time and the final design uses eight different colours and is made up of six layers which, when combined with carpet textures, creates the splattered and smeared look that we had set out to achieve.

The carpet forms an important part of the overall aesthetic that includes high power tables complete with bespoke paint smears; high workshop stools and school stacker chairs that feature fun paint splatters; and comfortable armchairs that have been upholstered in illustrative fabrics. The walls are also adorned with artwork by local artists.

Abbey Hotel is another example of how Ulster Carpets works closely with customers to realise their vision and it also showcases the valuable resources that can make all the difference.

Our Design Portal is an inspirational space that displays the variety of designs that Ulster Carpets has created over the last 80 years. It is open to interior designers, specifiers, hotel owners and other individuals in the industry to use and is a valuable and popular resource.

In addition to this, one of the key aspects of being a designer at Ulster Carpets is PSYLO™.  Thanks to this patented weaving technology, there are no limits when it comes to creating an imaginative and highly specific design such as this, meaning Ulster Carpets is able to turn these daring concepts into a reality.

For that reason, we are confident that we can deliver on the distinctive challenges that interior designers are now setting us.

If you would like more information on our Design Portal please email: sue.swannell@ulstercarpets.com with your name and company name / address.