Tai Ping—the bespoke luxury carpet house based in Hong Kong—has just welcomed something new. Now available in the U.S. is its “Raw” collection, created in partnership celebrated French architect and designer Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance.
The collection, filled with natural tones and cuts, is an exploration of our planet. Influences encompass the origins of Earth, the formations that came after, and the tensions in the tectonic plates, and more. Tai Ping’s artisanal skills in hand-tufting is paired with Noé’s artistic vision, resulting in a beautiful combination of color and texture. Blended materials of wool, silk, jute, lurex, and Field—one of Tai Ping’s enhanced performance yarns—are seen in soothing shades of clay, turquoise, and lavender. With these merged details, Noé also expresses his creative memory, heightened by memories of his grandfather and his childhood on the coasts of Brittany.
Courtesy of Tai Ping.
Whitewall spoke with Duchaufour-Lawrance about the new collection, how he’s constantly inspired by nature, and what he’s working on now.
WHITEWALL: What from your childhood memories of being on the coast in Brittany, France are seen in these designs?
NOÉ DUCHAUFOUR-LAWRANCE: The mineral rocks of Brittany’s coast and the idea of a timeless, endless “landscape” have echoed in my mind since my childhood and are now a founding pillar of my overall creative practice. My grandfather was a geology expert and I was inspired by his collection of rare stones for my designs for Tai Ping. I also continue to be fascinated by stones sculpted by a human hand. They are one of my key reference points.
WW: Tell us a bit about creating these carpets. Where did your creative process begin?
NDL: First, I wanted to sketch mineral stones. I started by researching drawings, striving to express raw, sculpted, precious minerals in my own personal way. I looked to illustrations in geology books and old engravings, to be able to reference them in my sketches. When I shared the first research drawings with Tai Ping, the team loved them and decided to develop the ‘Raw’ collection together.
WW: Tell us a bit about your creative practice overall, being both an interior architect and designer of objects. What type of spaces are you inherently drawn to designing?
NDL: My work is strongly inspired by nature. I like the idea of continuity and of the interconnections seen in nature. This inspiration is based on emotion, by contemplating and immersing myself in the natural environment, its shapes, its materials, its lights and its systems. I want to recreate what we feel when we observe and contemplate the natural world through design. I want to recreate the fragile link between our external environment and our interior architecture.
WW: You’ve designed pieces for brands like Baccarat, Paco Rabanne, and Ceccotti, and spaces like a lounge for Air France and a private house in the Hamptons. Can you tell us a bit about your most recent project?
NDL: I am currently working on a very personal project called Made in Situ. Made in Situ is about exploring new creative fields rooted in the hidden treasures of a territory and its craftsmen. I’ve lived in Portugal for two years and wanted a project to show my attachment to this country. Conceived as an experimental laboratory dedicated to design, Made In Situ produces short collections throughout the year, developed in collaboration with local artisans. Each capsule collection (with a very limited number of pieces) will explore a material, reveal a new genius creative mind, an artist or a craftsman, and showcase a region of Portugal.
WW: You’ve designed an array of home objects, such as lighting pieces, bookshelves, and desks. Do you have a favorite piece?
NDL: In all honesty I can’t choose just one, every project is different and has a different story. The Manta table however helped me find a new confidence in design. The result is both sculptural and functional.
