CARPETS FOR THE SENATE OF CANADA

The Creative Matters carpet for the Senate’s chamber. Photo: Senate of Canada

As a Canadian company we were particularly delighted to be selected to create the carpets for the Senate of Canada’s temporary new home in Ottawa. We worked with Diamond Schmitt Architects who were responsible for the transformation of a historic 20th-century train station into the interim meeting place for the upper house of parliament while the permanent chamber undergoes a decade-long renovation of its own.

The historic train station that has been transformed into the interim meeting place for the upper house of parliament. Photo: Senate of Canada

“We’re so proud to have been selected for this project because it’s in such a significant location that has been beautifully and painstakingly designed with top artisans, architects and designers from across our country,” said Vice President Ali McMurter who managed the project from 2016 until installation in late 2018. (Vice President Ana Cunningham had first determined many of the colours in 2015.) No stranger to governmental assignments, Creative Matters has created floorcoverings for many official residences over the last 20 years from Bogota to Hong Kong, most famously the 29 carpets for the Canadian High Commission in London.

In addition to the chamber carpet, this Ottawa project comprised a red carpet for the gallery, a red carpet with coloured maple leaves for the ante-chamber, foyer and Colonel By Lobby, a rectangular red carpet with a maple leaf border for the dining room (with Designer Kat Pezzano); as well as a grey carpet for the reading room (with Designer Anna Panosyan.)

Creative Matters carpet for the gallery and chamber. Photo: Senate of Canada

Within the various designs, 12 different types of Canadian maple leaves are depicted in painstaking detail. Diamond Schmitt architect Dieter Janssen generated the motifs for each leaf type as well as for the background pattern that is used in the Chamber. Diamond Schmitt gave us detailed diagrams showing the size and style of the leaves and background details. We then interpreted them so they could be made in the woven Axminster style of carpet.

The carpets were manufactured using “barber pole yarns” in the red background. “This means two different shades of red are plied together to make a very subtle heathered look which adds depth to the colour and helps to break the surface tension of a solid red,” said Ali. An interesting detail is how the intensity of the leaves increases as you proceed from the public areas towards the chamber. The chamber is the main focus - with the highest leaf intensity and an intricate and beautiful background.

A gold maple leaf on the intricate background used for the Creative Matters chamber carpet.

We’re all proud that Creative Matters has contributed to such a high profile project. What’s more, it’s fun to see so many Instagram selfies being taken on our chamber carpet!