The rug connection

MOST people study industrial design, go on to become an industrial designer - creating lamps, furniture . . . all the hard stuff. But not Nani Marquina. The industrial design graduate from the Escuela Massana of Barcelona found her niche as a rug designer. "There was no demand for industrial designers in Spain when I had finished school in 1970," says Ms Marquina, who was in Singapore recently for the Maison&Objet Asia show.

"There were people who designed furniture, but no one was designing contemporary rugs," she goes on. Seeing a gap in the market, Ms Marquina says: "I knew that if I wanted to design new rugs, I had to start my own company." Back then, contemporary rugs were unheard of in Spain.

In 1987, she founded her eponymous company. In Singapore, her rugs are available at Space at Bencoolen Street. Asked to describe her rug-making style, the 62-year-old says: "My rugs try to connect with people through colours, sometimes texture, and volume. People connect with the rug the same way they do with a piece of art."