In 2002, Lees Carpets initiated a new collaborative project involving design students from the College of Design at North Carolina State University. Six students from three design departments were selected to co-create an award-winning, innovative and appealing carpet. RBN flooring was created as an interpretation of the kinetic energy of the urban environment. Exhibited at NeoCon 2003 in Chicago, IL, RBN flooring was well received and recognized through the Silver Award for Best of Show.

The Design Challenge

The contract carpet industry is a competitive and fast paced industry with its’ design focusing on various markets and innovation. Technical characteristics, such as stain removal and performance factors, are among the highest priority in carpet development and sales. However, there is often an imbalance between functional necessity and aesthetics. It was from this angle that Lees approached the collaboration. Six design students were asked to provide an alternative to typical carpet. The student design team was composed of two graphic design students (Mia Blume and Kerry Robinson), two industrial design students (Shawn Sowers and Rachel Potenziani), and two Art and Design student focusing in Fibers (Harriet Hoover and Peg Guinoux). Assistant professor Vita Plume served as advisor/facilitator. The project was entirely open-ended and self-guided. Lees Carpets personnel retreated from tainting the student designers with traditional carpet notions. The market was untargeted, and the scheme unlimited with the only directions to be innovative and creative.

The process of designing carpet began with an introduction to the manufacturing facilities in Glascow, Virginia. The students were exposed to the available technologies and their palate of materials to create. From the beginning, the student team identified common design goals, focusing around the idea of the experience. Focusing on this idea, each student represented their individual process, tools and modes of creating, ranging from computer graphics to simple needle and thread. Like the urban experience, many different facets and methodologies of creating were present throughout the process. The translation of these processes matriculated into the idea of the urban environment.

RBN flooring was created out of the desire for a kinetic experience that embraces the palette of its surroundings. The techno-urban concept celebrates the primary backing of the carpet, with minimal tufted fiber. The fiber is tufted in varying pile heights to create a fresh floorscape. The unique effect of rbn flooring creates an “aura” of color that surrounds the user. Further out in the visual field, only the tufted fiber is visible as the primary backing emerges nearby. This distribution of color is validated as the user moves across the floor. The urban experience served as a unifying theme, as it captures the reward, vitality and excitement that are expressed through changing landscape. To create this affective illusion, Lees carpets created new tufting technologies specific for rbn flooring. The student team then finalized the color line by selecting a series of neutral tones with metallic qualities, counterbalanced with various saturations of contrasting color.

NeoCon

Lees Carpets has a showroom at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Illinois, home of NeoCon. NeoCon, the contract industries world trade show, hosts the latest design from a variety of vendors, including contract textiles, wall paneling, furniture, carpeting, and lighting. The student team would conceptualize, and co-design the RBN display for the Lees carpets showroom at NeoCon. The installation would compliment the urban experience through material usage and visual layout. The NeoCon Best of Show, Silver Award honored the Lees collaborative. The Silver Award gave precedent to the articles released in the following periodicals: Metropolis, Interior Design, and Floor Focus. RBN is now released and will be manufactured in early 2004. The release will also include product information brochures that were co-designed by the student team.

Through the Lees collaborative, students had an incredible opportunity to experience problem solving, design, presentation, and time management outside of a traditional studio setting. While benefiting from unique collaboration, and learning the value of teamwork, students had the unique opportunity to have a design manufactured and marketed.