Mexican design collective NEL have designed Global Warming Rug for Spanish textiles brand Nanimarquina.

The rug features a felt polar bear on a small iceberg in a large sea of carpet.

Here's some info from Nanimarquina:

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NANIMARQUINA LAUNCHES THE GLOBAL WARMING RUG DURING THE VALENCIA INTERNATIONAL FURNITURE FAIR.

THE PIECE WAS DESIGNED BY THE NEL COLLECTIVE, FORMED BY FIVE MEXICAN DESIGNERS

GLOBAL WARMING PORTRAYS A POLAR BEAR STRANDED ON AN ICE FLOE, VICTIM OF MELTING POLAR ICECAPS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Global Warming contrasts the comfort and softness of a rug with a thorny problem that is specific to our time. Following the age-old tradition of using rugs as a means for communication and a cultural record, NEL is portraying global warming in a scene that invites us to reflect on our impact on today’s world.

Overshadowed by politicised discussions, climate change has been pushed off the front pages and into the science and financial sections, which has alienated the debate – as well as considerations of responsibility – from the personal social sphere. The rug, with its soft surface and charming felt bear, reclaims the reality of what is happening to our planet and brings it into the day-to-day realm in an attempt at spurring the individual into reflection and action. Global warming is a bid for hope. It represents our aspirations for a better future and a world that might be.

Global warming is part of Nanimarquina’s new catalogue, which will be presented during the Feria Internacional del Mueble in Valencia from the 23rd to the 27th of September 2008. Nanimarquina will be exhibiting at Pavilion 8, Stand D90.

NEL Collective
NEL is a platform for experimentation formed by an evolving collective of Mexican designers. The collective serves as a channel to create and exhibit projects that focus on the conceptual and playful side of design. The organic nature of the collective allows for an ever-changing pool of designers, which in turn generates a wide variety of projects that range from political statements to playful storytelling or aesthetic explorations.

The current members of NEL, all Mexican, are Ricardo Casas (1979), Alejandro Castro (1982), Héctor Esrawe (1968), Emiliano Godoy (1974) and Cecilia León de la Barra (1975).

NANIMARQUINA
Nanimarquina is a leading company in the textile decorations sector. Its collections are sold with great success in more than forty-five countries on five continents.

Nanimarquina guarantees that no child labour is used in the manufacture of its carpets. It collaborates with Care & Fair – an organisation created with the goal of eradicating child labour in the carpet industry in countries like India, Pakistan and Nepal – to which it donates 1% of the value of its imports from India.