Tejo Remy
"Accidental Carpet"design 2008, this example 2017

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Tejo Remy
The Netherlands, born 1960
Artist or Maker: René Veenhuizen
The Netherlands, born 1968
Artist or Maker: Tanja Smeets
The Netherlands, born 1963
Produced by: Atelier Remy & Veenhuizen
The Netherlands
Title: "Accidental Carpet"
Date Made: design 2008, this example 2017
Medium: Wool, cotton, jute (from recycled rugs)
Dimensions: 87 3/4 × 89 1/4 × 1 1/2 in. (222.89 × 226.7 × 3.81 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Debbie and Mark Attanasio and Shannon and Peter Loughrey through the 2018 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²)
Accession Number: M.2018.136.1
Classification: Textiles
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: Each renowned for his own product and furniture design, Tejo Remy and René Veenhuizen have been partners since 2000. While their work is made in multiples, it is not mass produced. As Remy declared in an interview: "What struck me is how obviously our work is made by hand. This hand-crafted quality is very conspicuous, although naturally, it’s the result of a lot of thinking." Unlike many contemporary designers, they avoid computer assistance, preferring "hands on" (mostly only their own!) experimentation, but always to serve a practical purpose.

They are known for using existing materials – tennis balls, recycled glass, rags – for their furnishings, but insist that this does not come from a mission of sustainability. As Remy explains, "Our editions are so ridiculously small that recycling wouldn’t really make a difference….But it does call attention to the beauty of stuff that we generally throw away as garbage. So you could actually consider it a form of upcycling. The value of the materials used is increased." And Veenhuizen adds: "What’s important is that existing materials already have a significance of their own. They can be linked to a memory or a location. They have a history."

This rug and pouf provide an outstanding example of the partners’ ethos and practice, and was designed in collaboration with Remy’s wife, the site-specific artist Tanja Smeets. In 2008, the three designers were commissioned by SKOR (the Foundation for Art and Public Space) in the Netherlands to create a more pleasant environment for children being treated for epilepsy at the Hans Berger Clinic in Oosterhout. As Smeets explains on her website, they created colorful rugs because: "To minimize the effects of an epileptic fit, you need warmth and softness: an environment with rounded forms and lots of places to sit and lie down. We chose used wool blankets as our basic material. We stacked and/or cut them in strips and coiled bundles of different coloured strips around each other."

This solution to the problem of a cold and sterile environment was enthusiastically received not only by the patients and their families, but also by people responding to the warmth, intimacy, and sheer joy the design invokes. This has resulted in many other commissions for what was first called Homeshaker, referring to the goal of creating, as Smeets describes, "a homely atmosphere in a building for people whose lives have literally been shaken up." Over the past decade, thirty more rugs of different shapes and sizes have been produced, mostly custom made for homes and offices, with the exception of three (including the one—number 32—under consideration) made in 2017 for the Industry Gallery to show at art and design fairs. They are now called Accidental Carpets, since their specific color and shape is determined by whatever discarded blankets are on hand.

The production of seating furniture also made of colorful old blankets began in 2014. As Remy explained, "the poufs were an option in itself, but during Aqua Miami [December 2017], we put them on the carpet and now it looks like it belongs together."

Wendy Kaplan, Curator and Department Head

Related Unframed

Tejo Remy
"Accidental Carpet"design 2008, this example 2017

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Tejo Remy
The Netherlands, born 1960
Artist or Maker: René Veenhuizen
The Netherlands, born 1968
Artist or Maker: Tanja Smeets
The Netherlands, born 1963
Produced by: Atelier Remy & Veenhuizen
The Netherlands
Title: "Accidental Carpet"
Date Made: design 2008, this example 2017
Medium: Wool, cotton, jute (from recycled rugs)
Dimensions: 87 3/4 × 89 1/4 × 1 1/2 in. (222.89 × 226.7 × 3.81 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Debbie and Mark Attanasio and Shannon and Peter Loughrey through the 2018 Decorative Arts and Design Acquisitions Committee (DA²)
Accession Number: M.2018.136.1
Classification: Textiles
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: Each renowned for his own product and furniture design, Tejo Remy and René Veenhuizen have been partners since 2000. While their work is made in multiples, it is not mass produced. As Remy declared in an interview: "What struck me is how obviously our work is made by hand. This hand-crafted quality is very conspicuous, although naturally, it’s the result of a lot of thinking." Unlike many contemporary designers, they avoid computer assistance, preferring "hands on" (mostly only their own!) experimentation, but always to serve a practical purpose.

They are known for using existing materials – tennis balls, recycled glass, rags – for their furnishings, but insist that this does not come from a mission of sustainability. As Remy explains, "Our editions are so ridiculously small that recycling wouldn’t really make a difference….But it does call attention to the beauty of stuff that we generally throw away as garbage. So you could actually consider it a form of upcycling. The value of the materials used is increased." And Veenhuizen adds: "What’s important is that existing materials already have a significance of their own. They can be linked to a memory or a location. They have a history."

This rug and pouf provide an outstanding example of the partners’ ethos and practice, and was designed in collaboration with Remy’s wife, the site-specific artist Tanja Smeets. In 2008, the three designers were commissioned by SKOR (the Foundation for Art and Public Space) in the Netherlands to create a more pleasant environment for children being treated for epilepsy at the Hans Berger Clinic in Oosterhout. As Smeets explains on her website, they created colorful rugs because: "To minimize the effects of an epileptic fit, you need warmth and softness: an environment with rounded forms and lots of places to sit and lie down. We chose used wool blankets as our basic material. We stacked and/or cut them in strips and coiled bundles of different coloured strips around each other."

This solution to the problem of a cold and sterile environment was enthusiastically received not only by the patients and their families, but also by people responding to the warmth, intimacy, and sheer joy the design invokes. This has resulted in many other commissions for what was first called Homeshaker, referring to the goal of creating, as Smeets describes, "a homely atmosphere in a building for people whose lives have literally been shaken up." Over the past decade, thirty more rugs of different shapes and sizes have been produced, mostly custom made for homes and offices, with the exception of three (including the one—number 32—under consideration) made in 2017 for the Industry Gallery to show at art and design fairs. They are now called Accidental Carpets, since their specific color and shape is determined by whatever discarded blankets are on hand.

The production of seating furniture also made of colorful old blankets began in 2014. As Remy explained, "the poufs were an option in itself, but during Aqua Miami [December 2017], we put them on the carpet and now it looks like it belongs together."

Wendy Kaplan, Curator and Department Head