Design for Purpose: Custom Flooring

PURPOSE: Carpet produced on demand

Bo Barber founded Nood Fashion with two seemingly disparate goals: to build a sustainable company and to give designers more authorship over carpet patterns. “I thought those were polar ideas,” Barber says. “But as I made more and more green choices, I ended up creating a model that allows designers to get exactly what they want.”

Three years later, Nood fabricates broadloom and modular carpeting only in white; designers specify the motif and color, which are then dyed to order. Because designers are so entrenched in what Barber calls the “shopping experience”—specifying samples from the books that sit on their shelves—it has taken some time, and at least one concession, to convince them that they can have a custom product if they build just a few extra days into the process. In addition to a paper simulation (made by the Tennessee-based company Tricycle) of their pattern, Barber now provides customers with material samples—small pieces of carpet made for other jobs—within 24 hours. They can have an actual sample in three or four days. As for the final product, Nood’s delivery times are quicker than average: three weeks for smaller orders, six to eight weeks for larger ones. “People want to talk about reclamation,” Barber says. “I say, ‘Let’s not—no one really does it. Let’s go further back.’ Carpet that sits in a warehouse and never gets sold is the problem. The battle should be over not even producing it. We don’t make carpet until someone wants it. Every­thing should be made for a purpose.”

Design for Purpose:

Whitelines: Sketchbooks for persnickety designers

Setu: To bring ergonomics to everyday seating

Generation by Knoll: Task chair for the younger set

Handle Easy: Cell phones for seniors

Custom Flooring: Carpet produced on demand