Nordic Knots Launches Grand Open Rug Collection
This summer has been defined by a number of major sports events, seeing the triumph of underdog players and teams along with some controversies. Though the somewhat fraught World Cup might have overshadowed the Wimbledon Championships, tennis has long been one of summer’s defining sports. Its distinctive visual language has long extended beyond the court. Swedish brand Nordic Knots’ latest rug collection brings that recognizable geometry indoors, translating grass and clay courts into graphic floor coverings.
Photography courtesy of Nordic Knots
Deftly captured within the sumptuously decorated halls of stately southeast London manor Eltham Palace, The Grand Open rug collection is within reach of the more modest homeowner. The brightly colored rug brings the specifically delimited outdoor space inside—it’s simple in visual but doesn’t overwhelm with unnecessary or gimmicky details.
The contrast between the grass green and white geometric lines of this pictorially represented playing surface and the medieval-meets-art deco setting are striking nonetheless. The rug also comes in a blue clay court variant. While the layering of this design is straightforward, the elaborate marquetry of the interior is far more complex. Designed by Eltham Palace’s architect, Rolf Engströmer (who is also Swedish), historic intarsia woodworking hints at the highest level of craftsmanship, a quality also intrinsic to The Grand Open rug offering.
Photography courtesy of Nordic Knots
Where one might perceive intricacy is in the 100 percent New Zealand wool, hand loomed and cut pile make-up of the design. The subtle textural and tonal shifts in the 14mm-thick rug replicates the nuances one might find in a closely cut field of grass or a meticulously brushed clay surface. Naturally, Nordic Knots has doubled down on the full narrative of this limited edition release, producing an even more limited run of branded rackets and tennis balls.
In recent years, the rug has become a popular medium to re-assess; the form lends itself well to pictorial and representational depiction. Art brought down from the wall, the typology has been used to hold a vast variety of images, not just spatially referential but also entirely fantastical and trompe l’oeils.
Photography courtesy of Nordic Knots
In terms of sports-related designs, one such recently released collection centers on the multivalent portrayal of the pool: a clearly defined environment perhaps as equally aspirational as the tennis court but still widely attainable in certain contexts: public parks for example.
One can now furnish their home with tennis courts and pools without having to flip the exorbitant bill to have them built and then maintained.
