OUR RUGS SHINE IN MARRIOTT REDESIGN

The Creative Matters rug for the Marriott's reception.

In spring 2018 we proudly installed 10 rugs in the public areas of the Toronto Marriott Markham. As the hotel itself says, "The all-new Toronto Marriott Markham reflects Marriott's latest design concepts and stands tall with sophisticated rooms and premium amenities." Creative Matters' Vice President and project lead Ana Cunningham said, "We knew this was going to be a completely new and more contemporary look for the Marriott brand. Together with an amazing art collection, we feel the rug designs make this hotel a visual treat."

Ana worked with Creative Matters Senior Designer Sarah Stevenson in a very tight timeline to produce initial concepts for the reception, the lobby, the Executive Lounge, the great room and the dining room. "The artworks for our designs are pretty spectacular - many of them are very bold and make dramatic use of high contrast tones with a painterly textural approach," said Ana.

The artwork for the lounge rug is a perfect example of the painterly approach we took with the Marriott designs. 

Laura Harris from interiors firm II BY IV DESIGN was our primary client contact. "Laura had a very clear vision for the role of the rugs. They were definitely assigned to be the feature in some of the spaces, in particular the main reception," said Ana. 

Close up with a detail in the Creative Matters reception rug at the Marriott.

While some of the rugs used high contrast tones, the Creative Matters rug for the Executive Lounge has a much softer look.

Close up with the rug for the Executive Lounge.

Though the palette for the whole project only comprised 12 colours, it still included a brilliant violet that was incorporated in the dining room carpet to appealingly bring in the fabric of the seating.

The Creative Matters rug in the dining area of the Marriott included a touch of violet to connect with the seating fabric. 

A particularly interesting aspect of the Marriott project is how we used the dye-injected quality in 100% nylon broadloom (carpet woven by machine in 4 metre widths) that is often associated with wall-to-wall installation. With this quality we are free to run an unlimited number of designs providing the colour palette remains the same. This is how we were able to produce area rugs in a variety of designs and sizes. We provided a detailed production layout to the mill - each rug designed separately - with enough excess to cut out and hand bind the edges. This method also enabled us to economically make doubles of the rugs that would receive a high amount of traffic so that the hotel already would have attic stock in hand. 

"As designers, it's always gratifying to explore the possibilities with different methods of production but above all, we appreciated the opportunity to play a part in the Marriott's redesign," said Ana.