The Story Behind Bolon: Fusing Rugs with the World of Fashion

What are the origins of your brand?

The company was originally founded in Stockholm in 1949, by Nils Erik Eklund, who came up with the idea of recycling textile offcuts into woven rag rugs. In many ways, our founder was ahead of his time and his ability to see an opportunity where others couldn’t still inspires us. Today, his granddaughters Annica and Marie keep this same spirit alive but since they took over the company from their parents Lars and Monica in 2003, they have also been on a mission – to make Bolon a design-led innovator and fuse the conservative, traditional flooring industry with the boundless creativity of the world of fashion. Under their leadership, business has transformed from a traditional weaving mill into an international design brand with clients such as Armani, Google, Four Seasons Hotels, Chanel, Adidas, Apple and Missoni Home and we’ve collaborated with world-renowned designers and architects. We are proud of our progress, but our story continues - we want to keep moving forward and innovating, creating sustainable, world leading flooring and rug solutions.

How do you work with interior designers?

We have a team of people, both in the UK and internationally, who work closely with interior designers to keep them abreast of our new products. We aim to offer the best service possible every step of the way, including quick and efficient technical, design and sample support.

What value does your sector add to the interior design industry?

Innovation, inspiration and unique flooring and rug products.

How do your services/offering enhance an interior designer’s projects?

Bolon creates beautiful flooring and rugs that stay looking that way, even after years of use. Our multiple custom options mean that there is a unique solution for each project a designer is working on, depending on the requirements of the client.

What are the latest trends you’ve noticed in your client’s requests?

Sustainability is a big part of our DNA and we are proud of our impressive sustainability credentials. We have noticed that these are of increasing interest to all interior designers, and we’re thrilled that this has become such an important part of how designers work.  It is also essential that our flooring and rugs are long lasting, so the cleanability of our flooring is also of increasing interest. Designers and their clients need flooring and rugs that are practical, as well as beautiful. People have had bad experiences with flooring that is not cleanable and therefore looks tired quickly after very little use, so they love how easy our flooring is to clean.

We’ve also noticed a number of requests for rugs that can be used both inside and outdoors.

Questions answered by Sarah Herman, Director, Bolon UK.

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Introducing the latest flooring collection from sustainable Swedish design company, Bolon - Truly rugs.

Designed to make a statement, the Truly rug collection features enlarged patterns, colour effects and hyper texture. Truly is a bold collection, created in-house, and shaped around the creative vision of the five women who make up the design team, including Annica and Marie. The range consists of five made-to-measure rug designs, each with its own expression and identity, representing the passions and expertise of the Bolon team.

The bold designs consist of ANYTHING EVERYTHING, which features a graphic pattern building rooms within a room, DISRUPT AND DISCOVER, an elegant multicoloured check, 100%, a sparkling out of focus zig-zag pattern, PRECIS, a flowing pattern in magnified formations and I SEE YOU, a collage-like pattern with layers of subtle surfaces.

The creation of the Truly rug collection follows on from both the introduction of made-to-measure rugs to Bolon’s product portfolio last year, and the launch of the Truly flooring collection, earlier this year.

Headquartered in Sweden but globally renowned, Bolon is passionate about sustainability which is woven into the brand’s DNA. Truly is made in Sweden, only with renewable energy and using a mixture of recycled and new material.

Bolon’s made-to-measure rugs offer customers endless options to select the right design, trimming and size for their specific project. There are eight available trimming options and Bolon produces rugs between 2 x 2 metres and 4 x 8 metres. Bespoke rug sizes are available upon request.

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Bolon is recognized all over the globe for its award winning and sustainable woven design flooring. This year the design company launches a unique and bold collection created by its inhouse team. The Truly collection let flooring become the statement of any room.

"We’ve been braver than ever before; we gave ourselves the freedom to try out and create all that we have been curious about over the years. Questioning technical challenges and our own perceptions to innovate new expressions, weaving flooring in colour effects and patterns never seen. I feel we’ve really outdone ourselves this time and pushed the idea of what woven flooring can be", says Klara Persson, the company’s Head of Product Management.

The Truly collection consists of five different patterns, all with their own expression and identity. Enlarged patterns, colour effects and hyper texture is what Truly is all about.

Bolon is bold and is always pushing the boundaries, challenging the perception of flooring design. This year more so than ever. The global campaign, created by Bolon's in-house marketing department, focuses on brand values such as creativity, craft, passion, colour and heritage. "We love creating the unexpected, we love moving forward. This is Bolon", say Annica, Cathrine, Klara, Lisa and Marie.

"Along the way, we found ourselves right in the middle of our DNA, the very heart of Bolon. All that we have ever created and experimented with have brought us here. Five different faces of Bolon, showing who we truly are", says Annica Eklund Chief Creative Officer at Bolon.

Truly is made in Sweden only with renewable energy, contains recycled material, is easy to maintain, has a high-performance classification, 33 Heavy commercial and a 15-year warranty. The designs comes in roll, 50x50 cm tiles and as Bolon Studio tiles, except Anything Everything, only available as roll. The collection is accessible worldwide from the 26th of January and is ideal for spaces with room for high-end design with a unique expression.

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BOLON is proud and honoured to share that they have introduced a collaboration collection, together with the influential architect and designer, Patricia Urquiola. The Swedish design company has for a long-time admired Patricia’s designs.

"For many years both me and Marie have dreamt of doing something together with Patricia. Her aesthetic appeals to us and it really is a dream come true to introduce the BOLON by Patricia Urquiola collection to the world. Her great sense for colours is something that reflects the collection and it’s a new palette that we haven’t worked with before, which is a great complement to our existing range. We are proud to add Patricia to our portfolio of BOLON friends", says Annica Eklund, Chief Creative Officer at BOLON.

While working on the collection, Patricia found a resemblance between the weaving technique of Bolon flooring and the Japanese tradition of Sashiko stitches. By developing, experimenting and combining Bolon with Sashiko, the colours, patterns and designs came naturally. BOLON by Patricia Urquiola is a high-end design collection with soft colours, characteristic stitching details and patch-like patterns.

"Sashiko means craftsmanship, a sense of materiality. When we started to work on this collection, we wanted to give the flooring a more authentic feel. We started researching as we do for all textiles but applied the approach to weaving techniques. We wanted to communicate cosiness, a feeling of warmth and Sashiko came up as the leading concept for the collection. I think it worked out really well", says Patricia Urquiola.

BOLON by Patricia Urquiola consists of one design that comes in four colours; grey, beige with blue details, a clay coloured pink and a calm green. The flooring comes in roll, is made in Sweden, contains recycled material, is easy to maintain, has a high-performance classification 33 Heavy commercial and a 15 years warranty.

The collection is available from the 7th of September 2021 worldwide, and is a perfect flooring for office spaces, hotels or other areas with room for crafted details. The characteristic three-dimensional look of BOLON flooring adds a tactile feel to any interior with the highest technical performance in every square meter.

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