In the latest movie in our Bolon at Heart series, Chinese architects Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu explain how they referenced Swedish landscapes to showcase Bolon's new flooring collection in Stockholm and Milan.

Elements installation by Neri&Hu for Bolon
Neri&Hu created an installation to showcase Bolon's new flooring collection called Elements

Neri&Hu worked with Bolon to create an installation showcasing the Swedish brand's latest product range, a woven vinyl flooring collection called Elements.

The stand design – which was unveiled earlier this year at Stockholm Design Week and will also be at the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan next week – comprises a series of large suspended tubes wrapped with the new material, which features subtle, warm colours intended to evoke natural materials like stone and wood.

Elements installation by Neri&Hu for Bolon
Rossana Hu describes the installation as "an abstract forest"

"The stand is composed of a number of what we call trees," Neri explains in the video, which Dezeen filmed for Bolon in Sweden. "There are tubes in five different dimensions wrapped in the new Bolon material."

Hu adds: "It is like encountering an abstract forest."

Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu say they drew inspiration for the installation from visiting Bolon's factory

According to Neri, the design was informed by the landscape surrounding the small town of Ulricehamn in Sweden where the Bolon factory is located.

"If you look at the context which Bolon is in, the idea of landscape is paramount," he says. "So this idea of a landscape being powerful was very important to us. This notion of landscape as a space."

Bolon's creates all its woven vinyl flooring in a factory in Ulricehamn, Sweden

Hu says that they also drew inspiration from the Bolon weaving facility, where huge rolls of Bolon's signature woven vinyl flooring is produced on a series of shaft and jacquard looms.

"When you come here, the one thing you see a lot of is these rolls," she says.

"Nowadays, not many brands actually manufacture the product that they are selling, so I think to embed that manufacturing history, knowhow and expertise into the stand design is really important."

Elements installation by Neri&Hu for Bolon
Neri&Hu's installation will be on show at the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan

Hu says she thinks it is important for the installation to draw on the story of Bolon in order for it to stand out from other stands at trade shows.

"Because people are seeing and experiencing the brand in the vastness of design fairs, it's really important that for the few moments that they are in the stand that they have a very good grasp of the storytelling," she says.

"So there is a whole variety of experience we are trying to give to the person who comes to the fair."

(Source:dezeen.com)