The Dwell 24: Allca Rugs
"I’m sorry. It’s difficult to say," says Haizea Nájera when asked why the colorful shapes of her Delfina rug are a little out of focus. Imagine having your pupils dilated or taking an easygoing hallucinogen and then viewing a Matisse print, its graphic forms getting soft around the edges. What Nájera can articulate is how she arrived at the concept.
The Madrid designer grew up in Valencia and studied art before turning to illustration. She earned an undergraduate degree and, in 2012, a master’s at the Universitat Politècnica de València before taking a series of jobs as a designer and illustrator focusing on textiles. "I remember it was in the month of July that I decided to quit," she says of leaving her last gig to pursue her own vision. "I moved to a small place that my parents have in a small town." She unplugged for about a month. "I was going outside the screens, going outside the computer and Photoshop and everything."
In addition to drawing constantly, she took up painting for the first time since she was young and began to ruminate on color, how it could affect our feelings and mood. Eventually, she doubled down on developing her own textile brand, Allca, which she had launched as a side hustle a year or two earlier. "I started to sketch and sketch and sketch, and I did 300 different rugs and 300 different combinations of gradients."
The first piece she put into production was the Mindset rug. A red dot bleeding out into a neutral field, Mindset looks appropriately like you could sit cross legged on it and meditate, squinting at the blurry dot until sharp focus is no longer a priority in your life. But it’s the fidelity to her original study that excites Nájera. "For an illustrator, it’s kind of magic," she says of the process. She sources handwoven rugs made from upcycled plastic fiber. Then a scan of one of her illustrations is printed onto them with a remarkable amount of detail. "It was really important for me to not do something really complex in terms of production, but something that could be really expressive."
She’s also an eager collaborator, having worked with many designers in Spain and abroad, including Berlin-based Argentinian photographer and art director Delfina Carmona, for whom the Delfina rug is named. Her next project is a series of furnishings with the Spanish brand Teulat. Her printing process may be simple, but it captures the expressiveness of the source drawings—sketching a direct line from her handmade gestures to your living room.
Read the full Q&A with Haizea Nájera below.
Hometown: Valencia, but now based on Madrid.
Describe what you make in 140 characters... Allca is a textile project focused on creating unique rugs from plastic waste. I do digitally printed colored rugs for wellness spaces.
What’s the last thing you designed? Again rugs, but it was in collaboration with a furniture brand which involved capturing their concept and aesthetic to create a small capsule that would define them.
Do you have a daily creative ritual? I try to keep myself somewhat isolated from invasive stimuli. Do some sport to clear my mind and make it easier to concentrate and create a calm and harmonious environment that helps me to feel at peace. Writing and sketching my ideas directly on paper is often part of the start of my day.
How do you procrastinate? Unfortunately scrolling is something that affects me and evidences somewhat anxious or uncertain moments when I seek escape. Lately, watching cooking videos is my thing.
What everyday object would you like to redesign? Why? I don't know if I'm capable of improving it, but I would try with a rubbish can. I think we need a really functional and easy solution to manage waste, especially for small places.
Who are your heroes (in design, in life, in both)? For me, a hero is someone who, despite having everything against him, is capable of changing and improving something in the face of difficulties. Thus, I identify this way of being in life with all those who express, materialize and create their ideas and sensibilities fighting against the determination and bias that society imposes on us. It moves me because these references are the ones that provide enthusiasm and motivation, two essentials when designing.
What skill would you most like to learn? Selling is a whole world and something I didn't think much about when I started this project, but it is undoubtedly indispensable to make it sustainable.
What is your most treasured possession? Because I moved several times on the last years, i try to reduce my possessions to the minimum. I like things that I can bring with me no matters what kind of flat or city I'm moving to. There is an old small abstract painting from a relative that bring me energy and makes me feel at home even in all this changes.
What’s your earliest memory of an encounter with design? This is a very difficult question for me to answer. When I was a child I lived in a very old house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cows and green meadows. Usually, when something was broken, there was not a new replacement, but a solution to fix it. I remember a lot of wit in each solution but also a genuine taste for how things are and how we relate to them.
What contemporary design trend do you despise? Fake craftsmanship from mass production.
Finish this statement: All design should... All design should be focused on improving things not only from rationality but from the emotion.
What’s in your dream house? Lots of plants, light, textiles that bring warmth, shelves full of books, space for cooking and enjoying food. Not too many objects but those that are there should have a certain history, emotional value, a charismatic aesthetic, or all together.
How can the design world be more inclusive? There is a need for continuous listening by both individual designers and institutions to what is happening locally and globally. This connection with social reality should lead to the necessary actions (economic support, decolonization of opportunities, etc.) to avoid determinism and the identification of design with an elitist profession.
What do you wish non-designers understood about the design industry? I would like them to be aware of the processes, skills, crafts and knowledge involved in the creation of a product, not only as a justification for its price but also for the transmission of culture and values. It is from this valuable legacy that new design picks up the baton and is able to evolve.
You can learn more about Haizea Nájera on Instagram.
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