Artist Rosemarie Trockel and architect Jean Nouvel, Pop icon Roy Lichtenstein and theatre director Robert Wilson all have something in common. They and many other prominent creative talents have dabbled in carpet design. Although our gaze is directed downwards a substantial percent of the time, meaning that the conditions under our feet shouldn’t be beneath our consideration, modern carpet design was for a long time a niche business. That is, until the Vo rwerk company – known for durable vacuum cleaners and tasteful wall-to-wall carpeting – decided to fill this vacuum in the industry in the 1980s. Like Rosenthal and FSB, Vo rwerk proceeded by hiring well-known artists, architects and designers for its designer carpet project. What resulted were product lines such as First Edition and Dialog Art Collection. The company from the Weser Hills even managed to bring back the kind of flowered rugs that had long gone out of fashion – with up-to-date designs including a rose pattern by Robert Wilson. With its Classics line, Vorwerk has been doing practical research into historical design for several years. The reintroduction of creations from German design pioneers begins with Jugendstil. Patterns by Peter Behrens and Richard Riemerschmid show the high graphic level achieved in this short but highly creative epoch. Finally, a resounding response was obtained with an edition of carpet designs by the “Bauhaus women”, who invented the modern carpet practically single-handedly in the weaving mill of the famous art academy. The abstract designs by artists like Getrud Arndt, Kitty Fischer or Gunta Stölz, heretofore only known from books and museums, resonate with the same intense aura as the artworks of those years. A new and ambitious collection is Ulf Moritz by Vorwerk. Using materials like mohair, linen, various wool and woolmix products as well as high-quality Antron yarns, the celebrated designer has created worlds of sensuous colour.