Art Collective Uses Bar Straws, Cocktail Umbrellas to Make 'Carpets'

‘Stirrer Carpet’ (Courtesy of We Make Carpets)

This is a message for all of you first-time homeowners in the Netherlands: We Make Carpets will not make you a carpet now or ever for that matter. (There’s a great big IKEA in Amsterdam for all your cheap flooring needs.)

We Make Carpets is the code name for a Dutch art collective, consisting of Stijn van der Vleuten, Marcia Nolte, and Bob Waardenburg. What they call a “carpet” is actually something that’s never supposed to be trod on or touched. Their carpets are meticulously crafted, highly artistic patterns produced by household or everyday products like hooks, bar stirrers, cocktail umbrellas, mini flags, rubber bands, gravel, straw, skewers, party hats, balloons, sprinkles, sponges, candy bars, thorns, and countless other doodads. (And yes, they have created a carpet carpet.)

‘Cocktail Umbrella Carpet’ (Ewout Huibers)

Recently, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam staged its biannual exhibit, with this installment focusing on contemporary design. Calling the exhibit “Dream Out Loud – Designing for Tomorrow’s Demands,” We Make Carpets were one of just 26 designers chosen out of a pool of 400 who submitted 750 projects. You can now see their work on display at the museum through January 1, 2017. To schedule a visit, click here.

For more on We Make Carpets’ incredible work, click here. Take a look at some of their other carpet projects below. At the bottom, watch a video feature on the collective below.