by Ann Withanee — June 25, 2012—Urban Retreat, the newest carpet tile collection launched during NeoCon 2012 by Interface, explores man’s connection with natural elements and the intersection of nature and manmade materials. The Urban Retreat collection won a Silver Award in The Best of NeoCon product competition held during NeoCon at The Merchandise Mart, Chicago.
The collection merges seemingly opposite worlds that inspire beautiful, coexisting and functional design in interior spaces, notes Interface. With NeoCon as a backdrop, Urban Retreat marks Interface’s launch of a new global product line, soon to be available on six continents around the world.
The new collection reflects a worldview that includes nature as an appreciated source and reminder of true inspiration. Urban Retreat’s nine styles are sorted into pattern studies ranging from refined textures to broad organic forms, all offered in a complementary color palette. Eight colorways include earthy neutrals and lush greens that reference lichen, grass, ivy and moss, informed by an emerging area of science called “biophilia.” The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems.
Grouped into three categories—Urban Retreat One, Two and Three—the styles explore manmade creations that make room for nature.
Urban Retreat One explores the contrasts of modern cities; sharp and blurred, classic and futuristic, eclectic and austere. When grouped together, UR101, UR102 and UR103 create the look of moss growing on stone, with veins of green running across the floor and blending subtly on either edge into a neutral ground for a soft somber effect.
Urban Retreat Two combines the orderly and the organic in an exquisitely restrained palette, with references as diverse as modernist architecture and ancient tree bark. In fact, bark is recreated to incredible effect in UR201, utilizing Interface’s advances in tufting to create a carved, weathered design with shifts in height and texture that are at once edgy and ethereal.
The grouping shares a neutral color palette with Urban Retreat Three, which offers tone-on-tone textural complements to Urban Retreat One and Two. Patterns that call to mind soft, smooth French limestone and shimmering linen create subtle, elegant contrast.
The collection’s reverence for the natural world is evident below the face of the tile as well. Urban Retreat exemplifies Interface’s abiding Mission Zero promise to eliminate any negative impact it may have on the environment by 2020. Urban Retreat contains up to 81 percent recycled content, including 100 percent recycled content fiber and high recycled content backing. Content yarn is derived from salvaged fishing nets with reclaimed carpet fiber processed within Interface’s ReEntry network.
For more information visit the Interface Web site. See also the list of the Best of NeoCon winners on FMLink.
