{"id":407866,"date":"2023-05-12T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.1stdibs.com\/blogs\/the-study\/?p=407866"},"modified":"2023-05-16T09:05:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T13:05:11","slug":"nanimarquina-santi-moix-rug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.1stdibs.com\/blogs\/the-study\/nanimarquina-santi-moix-rug\/","title":{"rendered":"Splashy Blooms Bud and Wilt in Artist Santi Moix\u2019s Floral Rug"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Nanimarquina's<\/a>
Spanish brand nanimarquina<\/a> based this floral rug<\/a> on a watercolor by artist Santi Moix<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The best rugs<\/a> have the ability to warm up a room not only through their texture and the density of their pile but also through their decorative motifs. The Flora Backyard natural-wool rug<\/a> from the adventurous Spanish brand nanimarquina<\/a> is one such standout. It is the result of a collaboration between nanimarquina and Santi Moix<\/a>, a Barcelona-born, Brooklyn-based artist who works in a variety of media but is best known for his abstract and figurative paintings and prints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rug\u2019s design comes from a Moix watercolor of flowers in varying stages of life \u2014 from bud to bloom to wilting finale \u2014 with the artist\u2019s color-saturated strokes and pencil-sketch lines all incorporated into the weave. Other patterns in the Flora series include Promenade<\/a>, an array of flowers floating on an open blush-toned ground; and Bloom 1<\/a> and Bloom 2<\/a>, each a large-scale version of a single blossom, one at its peak, the other on the wane. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Nanimarquina's<\/a>
Barcelona’s Art Nouveau<\/a> architecture makes a fitting backdrop for the rug’s organic design. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

With showrooms in Barcelona and New York\u2019s Flatiron District, nanimarquina is a family business, led by the firm\u2019s namesake founder, Nani Marquina. Her daughter, Maria Piera Marquina, serves as managing director, and Nani\u2019s sister, Carlota Marquina, is the firm\u2019s art director. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe essence of nanimarquina resides in the uniting of traditional techniques with contemporary design, and collaborations allow us to grow,\u201d Nani says. Creators like Ron Arad<\/a>, Ilse Crawford<\/a>, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec<\/a> and industrial designer Rafael Marquina, Nani\u2019s father, have all partnered with the company. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Nani<\/a>
Nani Marquina (left) founded her namesake company in 1987. She now leads it with her daughter, Maria Piera Marquina, who serves as managing director. Photo courtesy of nanimarquina<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

After visiting a fresco that Moix painted inside the thousand-year-old St. Victor church at Saur\u00ed, a remote Catalan village high in the Pyrenees, Nani decided to collaborate with him, too. \u201cI\u2019d wanted to do a flower rug for years, but I couldn\u2019t find the right flowers until I saw them in his paintings,\u201d she says. Since large-scale floral patterns are having a moment (as reported in 1stDibs\u2019 2023 Designer Trends Survey<\/a>), her timing could not have been better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each rug in the Flora Collection is made in India and takes between 11 and 14 weeks to complete. Translating Moix\u2019s fluid lines and curves into fibers involves a hand-tufting process with a gun-like tool that injects individual threads into an anchor textile. \u201cChoosing the dyes was an immersive color-matching process, because Santi\u2019s designs pay such special attention to the in-between stages in the life of the plant,\u201d Nani says of the succulent basil, saffron and garnet tones that predominate in the rugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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