Bolon by Patricia Urquiola: The Sashiko Collection in Woven Vinyl

Patricia Urquiola and the language of craft

Patricia Urquiola occupies a singular position in contemporary design. Born in Spain, based in Milan, she has produced furniture for Moroso, Cassina, B&B Italia and Kartell; interiors for Mandarin Oriental hotels and Bvlgari resorts; and objects that have entered permanent collections at the MoMA and the Design Museum. She is, by any measure, one of the most consequential designers of her generation.

Her collaboration with Bolon — the Swedish woven vinyl flooring company — produced a collection called Sashiko: four colourways of a single pattern inspired by the ancient Japanese craft of reinforcement stitching. The result is a floor covering of exceptional refinement, and one that is almost entirely unknown in the UK commercial flooring market.

What is Sashiko?

Sashiko is a form of Japanese decorative stitching with roots in the rural working culture of the Edo period. Originally a functional technique — used to reinforce worn fabric or patch together layers of cloth for warmth — it evolved into an art form in its own right, characterised by precise geometric patterns worked in white thread on indigo-dyed fabric.

The patterns are built from simple repeated units: interlocking hexagons, overlapping waves, diamond grids, hemp leaf forms. The beauty comes not from the complexity of any individual element but from the precision of the repetition and the interplay of positive and negative space. It is a craft tradition that rewards attention: the longer you look, the more you see.

Urquiola's interpretation translates these principles into the woven vinyl medium. The pattern is rendered in the structure of the weave itself rather than printed onto it, which means the design has a tactile, three-dimensional quality that changes with the angle of light. In this sense it is deeply faithful to the spirit of Sashiko, which is fundamentally a textile craft.

The four colourways

The Sashiko collection is available in four carefully considered colourways, each named simply for its tone. The restraint of the naming reflects the restraint of the palette: these are not colours competing for attention but colours that allow the pattern and the texture to do the work.

• Grey Sashiko — a cool mid-grey with depth and movement. The most architectural of the four, suited to contemporary commercial interiors with a strong material language.
• Light Sashiko — a pale, warm off-white that reads as almost neutral in most lighting conditions. The most versatile colourway, and the one most likely to work across the broadest range of interior schemes.
• Nude Sashiko — a warm blush-inflected tone that sits between ivory and pale rose. Particularly effective in hospitality and wellness interiors where softness and warmth are priorities.
• Sage Sashiko — a muted, grey-green that connects to the biophilic design conversation without being obvious about it. Sophisticated and increasingly on-trend for workplace and residential interiors.

Why woven vinyl?

Urquiola's choice of Bolon as a collaborator was not coincidental. Woven vinyl is intrinsically a textile medium — the structure that gives it its visual and tactile character is a weave, the same fundamental process as the Sashiko stitching that inspired the design. There is a material logic to the collaboration that a printed LVT or a tufted carpet could not have captured.

Bolon woven vinyl also offers a performance profile that suits the premium hospitality and commercial environments where this collection is most likely to be specified. The woven structure provides acoustic damping that reduces impact noise and absorbs some airborne sound — a significant advantage in hotel corridors, restaurant dining rooms and open-plan offices. It is highly durable, cleanable, and manufactured from recycled yarn in Sweden by a B Corp certified company.

Where it works best

Bolon by Patricia Urquiola Sashiko is a collection for interiors where the floor is part of a carefully considered design narrative. Boutique and lifestyle hotels, Michelin-starred restaurant dining rooms, high-end spa and wellness facilities, premium private members clubs and design-led workplace environments are the environments where it will be fully appreciated.

The pattern is subtle enough that it does not fight with other strong elements in an interior scheme — it provides texture and visual interest without competing for dominance. In this sense it is an unusually generous design: it makes everything around it look better without insisting on attention for itself, which is perhaps the highest compliment that can be paid to a floor covering.

Like the Jean Nouvel collection, it offers genuine rarity in the UK specification market. Very few commercial interiors in this country feature Bolon designer collaboration pieces, which means specifying Sashiko immediately distinguishes a project from the majority of its competitors.

Specifying Bolon by Patricia Urquiola

The full Sashiko collection — all four colourways — is available at Fenston Carter. For commercial projects requiring samples, acoustic performance data, technical specifications, or contractor pricing, contact us directly and we will respond within one working day.

Browse the complete Bolon by Patricia Urquiola collection at Fenston Carter.