Soft Foam Showdown Carpets Delight

Showdown Carpets by Dutch designers Nightshop are a series of objects made from soft urethane foam.  The designers mix the foam with various coloured pigments themselves and then pour the resulting material into lines and shapes. Although the resulting products resemble rugs, their creators describe them more as objects without a clear use. According to Nightshop, you should therefore interpret these objects as experiments in color, pattern and material.

The idea of making these objects grew out of a search for the material used for those anti-slip cloths you can buy in any convenience store. As Nightshop explain, these cloths feel kind of nice and apart from that, they look cool. Nightshop started searching for the same material and of course they couldn’t find it, instead discovering the urethane foam material they use now.

At first they wanted to make lamp shades with it, modifying an old centrifuge (for your clothes) and pouring the foam in. It was a disaster. The first ones were great but they could never recreate them. After that, they let the idea rest for a while while working on other stuff. But one day, they just connected the dots and started making carpets with it.

Their process is now to determine a pattern very quickly. In the morning, one person usually has a vague idea. they then quickly draw it with markers and then adjust if needs be. The team are inspired  by certain types of native folk art and patterns. Also, the material both helps in this way but at the same time limits your choices. You can’t work in precise detail and you have to work really fast.

Nightshop are currently working towards a solo exhibition planned for April at Robert van Oosterom gallery in Rotterdam (NL). There, they will show 10 of these carpets together with other new works they have made in the past year.