THE DESIGN MIND: UNVEILING THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY OF A CREATIVE MATTERS DESIGNER
Creative Matters’ team of exceptionally skilled designers harness their creativity, imagination and individual perspectives to create awe-inspiring custom rug designs. The design process is a deeply personal and emotional journey, with each Creative Matters designer embarking on a unique mental and sentimental process.
We’re offering exclusive glimpses into the insights of three of our designers at Creative Matters: Madeleine Baigent, Mengting Shen and Sophie Williams. Explore each of these designers' creative journeys, and how they shape their approaches to creating one-of-a-kind custom pieces.
Creative Matters designer Madeleine Baigent
When working on custom rugs, Creative Matters designer Madeleine Baigent taps into her artistic academic background and her personal experience in that moment. "Prior to textile design, I have a background studying art history and I find it is immensely useful to draw on this for different styles and feelings in my design work,” said Baigent.
“I like to listen to podcasts or music while I clean an artwork map, although I find when I am doing the initial design work, especially anything more geometric or technical, I need quiet to focus. I like how with big projects that I spent many hours working on, or even sometimes weeks or months, I can vividly remember what else was going on in my life at the time and those designs and my personal life feel linked in a special way.”
The Presidential Suite Living Room shaped rug for the Muir Hotel in Halifax. By Creative Matters’ designer Madeleine Baigent in collaboration with Studio Munge.
Baigent continues, “I spent much time while pregnant doing carpet design work for different areas of the Muir Hotel in Halifax. It is nice to think about guests in these hotels celebrating their own milestones and life events in spaces bearing designs that hold meaning for me as well. It was my job to make the shapes of the artwork very fluid and ocean-inspired. Blends of colours were kept very smooth in some areas and more choppy and stronger in contrast in others to mimic how the water’s surface can be calm one moment and then rough the next.”
Creative Matters designer Mengting Shen
For Creative Matters designer Mengting Shen, the design process is filled with a range of emotions. She shares, "In the realm of design, I traverse a spectrum of feelings, from the initial spark of inspiration, like a flickering flame, to the exhilaration of witnessing ideas take form. Yet, there are moments of vulnerability, where self-doubt lingers like a shadow, questioning my choices.”
Despite facing moments of vulnerability and tapping into personal emotions throughout the design journey of our custom rugs, this intimate process allows the Creative Matters team to question themselves as creatives and designers. This ensures each one-of-a-kind piece reaches its full potential, leaving an impactful design that is meaningful to both the client and the designer.
What makes the emotionally challenging experience so fulfilling for Shen is witnessing each design come to life within the interior design of the space. When all the pieces align and the design resonates with purpose, every emotion she experienced throughout the process is validated.
An area rug by Mengting Shen for the iconic La Samaritaine department store in Paris. It can be found in the men's contemporary department.
In 2021, Creative Matters designed two rugs for the men’s contemporary fashion area of the iconic French department store, La Samaritaine. “My selection of particular shapes and colours for this project, as well as the process underlying it, draws inspiration from Le Corbusier's collage Still Life,” said Shen.
Shen meticulously researched the original art piece, delving into the meaning and symbolism behind the chosen elements. Each shape and colour chosen for the rugs was carefully considered to capture the essence of the original collage. She continues, “Countless iterations and careful deliberation were undertaken to refine the shapes and select the perfect hues, ensuring that the project would pay homage to the original inspiration while forging its own artistic identity.”
Creative Matters textile designer Sophie Williams
Sophie Williams, a textile designer at Creative Matters, embraces a client-centered approach and strives to evoke specific emotions from within a space. She begins her creative process by understanding the client's desires.
“First and foremost I think about what the client is looking for and how they want to feel in the environment. I try to imagine how a rug design can navigate fluid movement within a space while accentuating architectural elements or objects with sentimental value. The starting point can vary from colour, material, texture, or artistic references. Having creative freedom to give the client room to respond using my own visual language is exciting. I enjoy the process of thinking about who someone is and what makes a project special. Merging my own design sensibilities with a client’s vision gives me deep satisfaction to know that all the thought and artistry produced by the mill will bring lasting comfort and originality into someone’s space,” said Williams.
A Creative Matters Toronto residential project by Sophie Williams.
Williams continues, "This residential rug was extremely personal for me because it was a home I knew well. I used to care for the children of the clients who later became my friends and mentors. "The dining rug she was asked to design served as an extension of a hand-painted mural she had previously completed in their dining room. With a background in painting, Williams created a mural depicting the family members and the unique characteristics of their neighborhood.
The mural created by Sophie Williams, depicting the family members and the unique characteristics of their neighborhood
To maintain the playfulness and hand-drawn qualities of the mural without overpowering the space. Williams notes, “Since the mural was fairly detailed, we decided to increase the scale and experiment with the open areas in the furniture plan. Motifs dance between the Scandinavian furniture continuing the energy and movement of the dining room. An important feature requested by the client was a place to sink their feet, feeling something soft and inviting. We chose to use a hand knotted mohair and wool blend in a higher pile to achieve this feeling.”