luis nascimento manufactures hand-tufted gradient rug

luis nascimento manufactures hand-tufted gradient rug
all images courtesy of luis nascimento

luis nascimento is a portuguese designer whose work wanders between object design and graphics. influenced by arts and crafts, he believes ‘there’s no substitute to a talented craftsman when it comes to delivering quality products.’ he is permanently questioning himself what is the role of creation in our society, either local or global, and how can it be used as an important tool to change the current context. with this mindset, nascimento challenges the hand-tufted process used to manufacture rugs with his project called ‘gradient’.

view at at angle 

made by hand or with a CNC machine, tufting requires the insertion fibers into a canvas from back to front. in order to ease production, different areas of each composition are specified with pre-chosen palettes and patterns. the final result depends on the number of the threads that are used, the level of visual intricacy, and the method of execution. regardless of the details of the designs, the technical implementation, and the colors available, the differences between each distinct area of the tapestry are always noticed. 

gradient detail

alongside the rug manufacturer’s of desistart group, the process for the carpet is intended to be more efficient as it works directly on the surface, which is uniformly tufted and monochrome. in the finishing stages, the fabric is directly sprayed without sacrificing the quality of its fibers. in other words, the textile is painted in order to decorate it with a smooth gradient that can be as small or as large as one may prefer, an effect which would be impossible to render only using traditional tufting.

samples with the two different processes

tufting machinery

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.