A Trio of Runners by Adam Nathaniel Furman

Where colour meets no bounds; from gigantic installations to fine rugs. Adam Nathaniel Furman knows exactly at what point form meets function in design.

‘Joyously deviant’ is how Adam Nathaniel Furman would describe their work, and we’re inclined to agree. A maximalist in colour, pattern, texture and form; Adam’s work has graced exhibitions right across the world and is held in collections of the Design Museum and the Carnegie Museum of Art.

To celebrate 10 years of FLOOR_STORY rug collaborations, we asked Adam Nathaniel Furman to reimagine their Meandros rug design.

Meandros Dawn, Day & Dusk presents three runners in combinations of blues, greens, pinks and yellows unfolds a story of how the light at different times of the day transforms the motif into three separate moods.

Across the three rugs, a curated selection of colours has been used, the combinations of which is what differentiates them, and provides different moods as well as working together if layered. These runners are flatwoven using traditional weaving techniques made with New Zealand Wool.

We’ve been designing rugs with Adam since 2018, it’s been so lovely to revisit our collaboration and talk to Adam about what puts that spark in their design work.

How do you approach adding a sense of individual style to a space?

My advice is to start by making a mess! Make horrible decisions but experiment, because you can always change things around. Follow your heart. Make a column out of Macaroni and paint it gold if you have to! The problem is people don’t trust themselves but there comes a point in life where we say fuck it, and then design becomes a true expression.

At what time of the day do you feel most inspired?

I am a morning person. In the morning everything just feels fresh and new - ideally everyone is asleep, so perhaps 5am where possible and that’s when I have loads of ideas and my brain and creativity is firing on all cylinders.

What’s been tickling your senses lately?

I can be really over-stimulated as a person so the holiday I’ve just returned from really did feel like I was recharging my energy. I went to Italy which I love so much and obviously during the lockdown I couldn’t go and have only been back once since Covid.

I got to spend ten days in Sicily and every day I was seeing things that blew my mind and that I could document for inspiration - a church for example. Colours. Shapes. I dream of Italy and if I could be reborn and change my nationality, I would definitely choose to be Italian!

What is your most prized collectible item and what is the story behind it?

This question is relatively easy - I have a tiny, mini vase / vessel which is only about 4cm across and which is made by minghetti - my favourite Italian factory in Bologna. The way they produce, embodies all I love about design and art. The vessel didn’t cost much but it’s a super tiny concentrated version of all that I love about design and art!