It would be unfair not to recognize that the availability of sustainable furniture in an increasingly globalized market is now finally responding to the long-awaited ecological maturation of Western societies. In fact, companies all over the world have had to review ethical codes, production processes and logistics. However, as we found with Vibrazioni Art Design, combining the use of natural or recycled materials with a design philosophy that rethinks products in view of their life path is not entirely common. Deanna Comellini, however, based her company business precisely on the production of rugs which, eco-sustainable for production, integrate artisan knowledge and design quality to become the maximum expression of the culture of a place. This is how often neglected surfaces manage to acquire value and be handed down, therefore reused, extending their life cycle. So let’s explore together the eco-sustainable humanism of GT DESIGN.
What is G.T.DESIGN and how did it make carpets symbolic objects of sustainable design?
In just over forty years, G.T.DESIGN has dedicated passion, rigor and competence to the recognition of the carpet as one of the protagonists of the design discipline. In addition to the daily domestic scenario, of course! Aware, in fact, of how for millennia weaving has been one of the main expressions of technological innovation and cultural identity in the history of a people, Deanna Comellini, founder and creative director of the brand, has built her small empire around a complement of furniture generally little considered. For her, in fact, designing a walkable fabric is equivalent to defining a light, permeable and open space. A decidedly far-sighted vision. If you think that now the designers of every generation are starting to consider the flexibility of spaces as one of the key parameters of sustainable design.
Furthermore, Comellini immediately freed the production of the carpet from any commercial ambition. As a matter of fact, his Modena company has always prevented the company mission from coinciding with an increased production of objects. Rather, for her, being a brand means pursuing a dream fueled by shared values with which to give shape, from time to time, to a new research. And it is precisely this free gaze with respect to “commercial at any cost” needs that have represented a great tool for innovation and study for G.T.DESIGN.
And who is Deanna Comellini and what innovations has she introduced into the world / art of the carpet?
Considering the carpet as the primary element around which the home atmosphere is built, Deanna Comellini decided in 1974 to make the art of the carpet her design and corporate purpose. From a first reflection conducted on materials with high technological response, her research has, in fact, turned into a real production philosophy. The desire to discover and safeguard the traditional techniques of various international cultures dates back to the 1980s. From there, her attention turned to “hand made”, natural materials, color and elementary shapes. This is how, then, in the 90s, you reinvented the presence of textiles in interior design, generating new production chains.
At the center of the investigation into the design and processing methods of textile fibers are natural materials such as linen, coconut, bamboo, pure wool, hemp, silk and naturally derived materials such as tencel. But, beyond the refined research on the high quality of natural materials or the prowess of technical yarns, it is the very idea of rethinking the carpet object that marks the history of the designer. Critics Cristina Morozzi have, precisely for this reason, defined Comellini as a designer accustomed to caressing natural materials to reveal their heartbeats and re-establish the link between the consumer’s body and the land that hosts it. . “Deanna weaves carpets that have the vibrations of the atmosphere, the heat of the earth, the softness of the mosses, the brightness of the water, the warmth of the sun, the vibrations of the flames”.
And this, although purely only poetic, is not a negligible detail for an area, that of product design, which comes out of a period in which trends praised the aesthetics of globalized over-consumption.
But how, however, your company deserves to be mentioned in terms of eco-sustainable commitment?
So far, probably, G.T.DESIGN’s commitment to respect for the environment has emerged only in a purely creative key. In fact, this is an integral part of its manufacturing process. Something instinctive that is as much a part of the work as it is of the daily life of its founder. In G.T.DESIGN, Comellini has favored the use of natural materials with low environmental impact production cycles, characterized by the use of easily renewable materials and which do not require the use of large quantities of water. All processes involve low Co2 emissions and involve the use of dyes made with non-toxic azo-free dyes. Also as regards the packaging, they use natural materials or, if synthetic, they certify their total recyclability.
Then, in 2008, he bought a piece of land in the Modena area where 1000 trees were planted. The idea was born from the desire to redevelop a part of the land exploited by intensive cultivation, taking its cue from contemporary landscape architects such as Gilles Clément. These create spaces in which nature is left free to express itself, without constraints, to become a welcoming and enveloping environment for animals and people. There G.T.DESIGN undertook to create a forest that would act as a small lung of the area. For the designer, in fact, nature, respected and supported, creates landscapes of surprising charm and complexity, such as to awaken the conscience of an increasingly distracted and self-referenced man.
And how, then, do the G.T.DESIGN collections enhance natural materials?
As mentioned, G.T.DESIGN wants to open up new social, ethical and emotional perspectives of the design product. Don’t be afraid of simplicity and let matter and color speak. It is precisely for this reason that the brand researches and experiments with new ways of designing and processing textile fibers. At the center of their investigation, in fact, there are natural materials whose craftsmanship aims to enhance their imperfection and sensitive vitality.
The Coconutrug collection, for example, enhances the roughness, heat-insulating, antistatic, renewable and biologically stable effectiveness of coconut fiber. Kama and In-Touch are instead in viscose and tencel, bright materials such as silk, eco-compatible and recyclable as they are derived from cellulose.
Hemp, on the other hand, is used in the Antique Hemp line of fabrics for Hotel MeatPacking, as the protagonist, due to its ecological qualities, of sustainable production reintegration. The bamboo, linen and silk collections follow, all customizable with unique and exclusive color samples.
So why do we read Deanna Comellini’s work as the opening words of a new domestic humanism?
Conceiving carpets as green areas inside the house, therefore, Deanna Comellini has coined a new way of looking at a simple piece of furniture as if it were an area of essential living space. An element that, looking like sand, moss, water, fire or clouds, elevates the house to a place where you can feel free from the problems of living itself. But what interests us, in the end, is the fact that, using natural materials and high quality performing fibers, G.T.DESIGN goes beyond the logic of mere industrial production. Their craftsmanship, in fact, enhances the imperfection and sensitive vitality of natural yarns precisely to highlight their uniqueness. Because, ultimately, that is where that value resides which, in contrast to the logic of use-and-throw, makes recycled or recyclable volumes truly sustainable objects.
