Bolon at Downtown Design

It was through a flash of insight in the late 1949s that a Swedish entrepreneur came up with the concept of combining cotton and nylon to make durable woven mats. Taking the name from the Swedish word for cotton (BOmull) and combining it with (nyLON), the Bolon brand was born.

Although it was generations before the company would reach the cutting edge that it is at today, it was this kind of forward thinking that clearly set the scene for what was to eventually follow.

In the early 2000s, Annica and Marie Eklund, the third generation in the family business took the reins and decided to align the brand with fashion. Thanks to a chance meeting with Giorgio Armani in a New York restaurant, they began their first collaboration and over the years, the sisters gradually developed the company from a small traditional weaving mill into a successful international design brand. Now they can list Armani, Missoni, Mercedes and Google under the brands they have worked with as well as leading designers such as Jean Nouvel and Giulio Cappellini.

For the last four months, UBM, the Middle East distributors of Bolon products have been working with the team at Downtown Design to provide innovative flooring for the entire Platform at the fair.

Tom De Kort, the managing partner at UBM General Trading, says the decision to collaborate was three-fold. “Firstly the fair is in a high-end location in Downtown Dubai that matches the appeal of Bolon and secondly almost all the designers that are invited to speak in the forum have worked on key projects with Bolon. Thirdly, we strongly feel that the fair is something special that has been missing in the Middle East market whereas other exhibitions are simply too large where quantity takes over quality.”

As well as displaying their product to every designer, professional and member of the public that sets foot in the fair, Bolon will also be launching a new product within their booth called Wing that uses the shape of a stretched V and gives new design options and perspectives to the professionals in the field.

“Participating in Downtown Design will benefit us because the right clientele will come,” says De Kort. “It will be a compact exhibition with a pure design orientation.”

Describing the Middle East as an emerging market where people are open to new ideas and concepts, De Kort says that there are also many new developments such as offices and hotels that all need fitting with quality brands and design. “We are witnessing a learning curve in design in this region,” he says. “If you look at the market compared to where we were five years ago, people want quality as well as aesthetics. We think this signifies growth and it is a good time to be in the market.”

Image: During 2013 Bolon launched Wing - a flooring tile that allows architects and designers to combine several of the company's collections and elevate them to a new nevel.