Inject Warmth Back Into The Workplace
By now, we’ve all heard the term resimercial. Despite its clunky sound, the word refers to the very real blurring of boundaries between residential and commercial design conventions that has overtaken the industry. Its effect is even beginning to be felt in workplace design, which reflects a new global attitude about what an office can and should offer its occupants.
“It’s important these days to incorporate grounded, warm, even cozy elements to a workplace project,” says Jeanette Himes, director of workplace design at Mohawk Group. “We’ve seen so many workplace projects that look glassy and hard, even a little cold. We wanted to inject some warmth back into them.”
One of the ways Mohawk is doing this is through their newest broadloom collection, Textural Effects. The collection puts an emphasis on tactility and artisan-inspired looks, drawing a sensory parallel to the creature comforts of residential design. There are currently two patterns offered in the collection: Moss Moderne and Matte Finish. Mohawk will be expanding the collection with Textural Effects planks and more color lines later in 2019.
Moss Moderne takes inspiration from Mohawk’s Lichen collection and abstracts it, blending heavily textured and bulky yarns together to recreate a ground-covering plant visual. “We looked at moss of course, but we also looked at clouds and sand in designing Moss Moderne,” explains Himes. “We didn’t want a literal interpretation of this popular plant, but something more open-ended.”
Matte Finish takes a more anthropological approach. This broadloom offering looks to hand-woven linen textiles for inspiration, drawing on the fine irregularities and nubby texture found in garments and blankets. “This line was more of a technological challenge for us,” says Himes. “We wanted to see if we could create a pattern that captures the spirit of hand-craft and uniqueness of artisan-made fabrics through the use of a tufting machine.”
For the time being, both collections come with seven color lines to choose from. These colors include core neutrals, warm grays, cool grays, and a classic black and white.
Textural Effects is manufactured using Mohawk’s new Duracolor Tricor solution-dyed nylon fiber. By nature of its triangular-shaped core, Duracolor Tricor can provide designers unsurpassed stain resistance, colorfastness, durability, color clarity, and enhanced soil performance. The idea, says Himes, was to offer employers an alternative that could shake up the predominance of carpet tile and resilient in high-traffic commercial spaces, especially workplaces.
“Broadloom is still such a great option for commercial interiors,” says Himes. “It brings warmth and softness to a space, while breaking up the visual hegemony of carpet tile and resilient that we’ve seen so much of in recent projects. As the resimerical look continues to explode, designers shouldn’t be afraid to use broadloom.”
