Visitors at Dubai Design Week can enjoy Swedish design company Bolon’s flooring designs in the Abwab Pavilions, which will showcase regional design throughout the walkways of Dubai Design District.
Visitors at Dubai Design Week can enjoy Swedish design company Bolon’s flooring designs in the Abwab Pavilions, which will showcase regional design throughout the walkways of Dubai Design District (d3).
With a focus on flooring and creative interiors, Bolon recently celebrated the launch of its latest flooring collection Flow – and with it an innovative development within recycling. Inspired by the timeless mystery of our oceans, Flow highlights design fluidity, visual motion and soft pastel shades. This is partly achieved by the use of a transparent warp that allows the weave’s subtle colours to shine through, creating an overall impression reminiscent of a tranquil, watercolour vista.
Founded in 1949, Bolon is led by sisters Annica and Marie Eklund, the third generation of the family to own the company. Since taking the helm in 2003, they have developed a cutting-edge business, evolving it from a traditional weaving mill into an international design brand.
Flow represents the next stage in Bolon’s evolution; as well as making the collection available in rolls and tiles, the company is using the launch of Flow to introduce its new tile shape, ‘Scale’. Celebrating the natural, glistening beauty within the ocean, it is the company’s first organic tile shape which features a soft, rounded form.
From a sustainability perspective, it is also a breakthrough collection. The bottom layer of the flooring’s backing is made of recycled material from Bolon’s recently commissioned onsite recycling plant – a process that results in the end product comprising up to 33% recycled material.
The significant investment in such a facility is the latest expression in a long history of environmental innovation. Today, Bolon uses only modern, phthalate free raw materials, sources locally drawn groundwater for cooling and is committed to centralised production for both process control and logistical reasons. Each of these steps reflects a long-term vision the company defines as ‘A Future Without Footprints’.
The commitment extends a family tradition, for the sisters’ grandfather, Nils-Erik Eklund, had launched Bolon, with the idea of using textile waste from the neighbouring factory to manufacture woven rag rugs. The company’s name is a combination of the first and last letters of the Swedish words for cotton and nylon.