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RUG STAR'S JURGEN DAHLMANNS TALKS HOSPITALITY CARPETS; LAUNCHES 'TUFT' SIGNATURE COLLECTION
Jürgen Dahlmanns introduces his high end Luxury Tuft collections to hospitality designers and architects at the January 2018 edition of Domotex in Hannover, Germany.
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HANNOVER -- Jürgen Dahlmanns, the creative force behind Rug Star, a Berlin-based international trend-setter in high-end area rugs, is setting his sights ona new challenge -- the hospitality market.
After focusing exclusively on the designer residential segment for 14 of the 15 years his award-winning rug atelier has been in business, Dahlmanns introduced the Signature Luxury Tuft collection at Domotex in Hannover last month to showcase the adaptability of his best-selling hand-knotted designs to more durable tufted product suitable for hotel installations.
The Signature collection, which is a compilation of the "Best of Rug Star" contemporary designs from Nepal, and Persian designs knotted in India, was dramatically displayed at Domotex in a wall of high quality tufted rug samples. Also showcased was Rug Star Tuft, the company's original tufted collection, introduced in September, 2017 in New York, and featuring designs relating to Water, Earth & Air.
At its Domotex 2018 exhibit stand Rug Star presented samples of its best-selling hand-knotted designs translated for the hospitality market in the Signature collection, featuring its Luxury Tuft quality.
In an exclusive interview with RugNews.com, Dahlmanns discussed the impetus for the collection. "After doing Tibetan hand-knotted rugs for [Rug Star's first] seven years, I thought it was time to discover something new. So I went to Jaipur in Rajasthan and started innovating to bring new ideas to the Persian carpet. I did that for seven more years, and then felt I needed another new challenge."
At the same time, Dahlmanns was beginning to pick up signals from consumers that inspiration for interiors they coveted in their homes was moving away from residences featured in decorating magazines. "Having five retail shops in Europe, I realized that 10 years ago clients were coming in with interior design magazines showing us ideas of how they wanted to live.
Two designs from the Rug Star Tuft 'Water, Earth, Air' series were magnets for designers and retailers attending Domotex 2018.
"Magazines were their source of the inspiration. But in the last few years, people were coming into my shops saying, 'two months ago I was at a design hotel in Barcelona.' Then, they would describe the interiors they experienced. I saw that the design hotels were becoming a little bit like the magazines from 10 years ago. And, because society is much more mobile these days, this trend keeps going."
Since hotels are about themes and story-telling through design, Dahlmanns saw a natural fit for his designs. "I knew that in the first 14 years, I set up a huge amount of patterns that tell stories, which, in total, express my need for diversity.
Rug Star by Jurgen Dalhlmanns adapts its beloved Open Up Your Heart Nepalese rug to its tufted quality, with an eye toward inspiring hospitality designers.
"I'm not a person who holds up his hand for one style. I understand that people have different tastes, and that my need is to be connected with different people." Since hospitality interior design was increasingly influencing his high-end consumers, and the commercial area represented a new source of revenue, Dahlmanns says, "I wanted my story-telling patterns to be seen in hotels."
Although he had access to luxury residential through his hand-knotted carpets and custom expertise, the designers says both hand weaving and customized pieces take longer to produce, and require higher budgets than most hotels can afford.
The elaborately hand-knotted Persian designs bearing Dahlmann's creative updates, are brought to the hospitality market in a luxury hand-tufted quality (shown).
I wanted to be connected with something on a different scale and at a different speed. But, with hand knotted you cannot access design hotels. So, to be able to do a whole hotel with my birds or jellyfish, or my army of fantastic animals which support and protect me while showing my funny side, I wanted them to be seen on a bigger scale. You can reach this with tufted rugs. Tuft can be produced in any volume at any size within 45 days.
"So, if you think about interior or setting up a concept for a hotel, there's a certain timeline or a certain budget, which you can match with tufting. I am a hand-knotted person because I believe in aging with time, and that something which ages with time becomes more beautiful. This is what connects me to hand knotted.
The brilliant color and artistry of Rug Star is evident in this Signature collection abstract design.
"But I also love my patterns. I love my belief in movement, energy, and color, and I wanted it to be seen at a bigger scale. That's why I started the Tuft [collections]."
That new challenge took him to China with a mission to translate his best-selling hand-knotted designs into tufted rugs. "I chose the Chinese market because it is a young, vibrant market. I like to be vibrant. Even if I think something might be overdone I want to add a little bit more so that even I am scared that it might be too much," Dahlmanns jokes.
Jellyfish from the Water collection in Rug Star Tuft.
The result of his Chinese production, the two Signature collections shown at Domotex, proves the success of that mission. "These lines are only to show my capability, which proves that I was able to translate my best sellers from the past 14 years into that tufted product. We are really strong with tuft."
Although the Tuft range is targeting the hotel, contract and B2B markets, Dahlmanns says there is some residential application as well. "For example, a little girl falls in love with my jellyfish, but her parents think the hand-knotted is too expensive to put in a kid's room. A house is complex. It has different needs and values. Why not establish different qualities for different areas?"
Rooster from the Earth series, is part of the Rug Star Tuft collection called Earth, Water, Air.
Hospitality Commissions
Rug Star's first hospitality installation was at the Park Hyatt in Vienna. Dahlmanns explains, "I'm not a smoking person, but it was funnily enough only for the smoking lounge. They had a problem because it was a historical room and the air circulation comes through a metal grate on the floor. "They wanted to cover the grate with a carpet, but they could not use a rug with a latex backing (which would stop the air from circulating in the room). I'm a problem solver, so when they showed me that - I was interested. I solved the problem, and they're really happy with it. We may have two more hotel projects coming up right now in the U.S."
Intricately tufted, the Hummingbirds pattern from Rug Star's Air series shows the limitless design potential for hospitality themes and custom capabilities.