RotaGiorgino’s In Conversation with... series continues with Juliana Polastri, Global Design and Brand Director at Tai Ping Carpets
TIDES Collection Medusa
For over six decades, Tai Ping has been creating meticulously-crafted products that are admired and celebrated by the world’s most discerning clientele
RG: What does inspire you the most?
JP: Everything that surrounds is constant enlightenment for carpet creations. From the tangible elements of nature, art exhibits, fashion shows, news, urban expressions, to the emotional and sensorial experiences of everyday life. At our design studios, we aim to resonate these inspirations and tell meaningful stories through our designs.
Tai Ping Moodboard -TIDES Collection
RG: What is your point of view with regards to today’s predominant themes such as quality, eco-innovation, social responsibility?
JP: We are honoured to be part of a company that celebrates the deeply-rooted practice of operating ethically and environmentally responsible since the early beginnings. Tai Ping was founded in British Hong Kong in 1956 with the noble aims of providing employment to migrant workers and developing industry in a post-war era. What started as a humble two storey villa as the original home of Tai Ping, has evolved today into a state-of-the-art manufacturing workshop that features environmentally-friendly elements throughout.
My favourite part of the workshop is that our artisans work in an environment that is flooded with natural light from the roof and surrounding windows along with energy-efficient LED lighting systems that help to reduce energy consumption. In the same way that Tai Ping imposes the highest of ethical and environmental standards on ourselves and our suppliers, we encourage our clients to make informed, responsible buying decisions. We believe a collective effort to make mindful choices will lead to a stronger impact on the preservation of the environment.
EdwardFields for Tai Ping – Pleo from Taxonomy Collection, designed by Bec Brittain
Edward Fields for Tai Ping – Elytra from Taxonomy, designed by Bec Brittain
RG: How important is craftsmanship for your studio?
JP: For both our brands, Tai Ping and Edward Fields where we specialize in luxury contemporary carpet design, craftsmanship is our core value. We have always been a fully integrated company, where in-house designers work hand-on-hand with the master tufters and weavers, and this close collaboration allows us to continuously challenge the fiber medium and the textile techniques.
It is with great pride, that our design studios enjoy creative freedom to work in environments where we can be trend setters, instead of trend seekers. Our commitment is to aspire to be vanguardists and bring a fresh new language in carpet design. We perceive the area-rug as an empty canvas with the potential of endless new expressions. For us, it is an art form beyond pattern making.
Our carpet conception is a synergy between form and craft, there is an integrity in the whole process. Our focus is on innovation, and we seek to offer new ideas for styles and techniques each time we design a collection.
Tai Ping Workshop
Handtufting
RG: What is Tai Ping preferred material?
JP: Our preferred materials are natural fibres. Humans have an innate affinity for natural elements, there is a connection to the simplicity and beauty of how they wear. We predominantly source natural fibres such as wool, silk, cashmere, cotton, jute and flax. Natural fibres are our sustainable choice and remain the source of economic vibrancy for millions of people including small-scale processors and farmers. Natural materials are renewable and recyclable, and they are capable of ground-enriching decomposition compared to synthetic materials which do not decompose.
TIDES Collection Opaline
TIDES Collection Abalone
RG: What would you identify as the main current trend in design and which one will be the future one?
JP: Decors that bring balance with a biophilic concept are a distinct current trend. With today’s unprecedented times living with this pandemic, this need to bring the outdoors in will further augment. I see the silver lining of this crisis being a search for authenticity in all the choices we make when creating; a reminder that the ordinary is extraordinary. What it will endure and become in the future, is the preference for craft that is genuine and long lasting.
Flourish Collection Iced Bouquet
Flourish Collection Willow
If you would like to see more about Tai Ping and see their spectacular collections, please follow links below:
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© RotaGiorgino – Interior Designers and Architects in London – Luxembourg – Milan
