Nanimarquina is celebrating its 35th anniversary with new collaborations, new achievements in its longtime commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, and an elegant new showroom in the heart of New York’s Flatiron neighborhood in which to reflect on its past and its future. And there’s a lot to celebrate—the company’s founder Elena Marquina, who goes by Nani Marquina, has been recognized as one of Spain’s top female entrepreneurs and was honored with a National Culture Award from the government of Catalonia. Last year, the company earned Climate Neutral certification and expects to again this year and into the future.
The showroom is both a veritable celebration of these achievements and heralds an exciting next step for the Barcelona-based company. The 2,800-square-foot space fills one floor of an 1891 neo-Renaissance building, as does sunlight through extraordinary sets of curved and large-scale windows, many with their original frames. “We always look for spaces with soul and character,” Nani Marquina tells Surface. “A simple renovation can enhance the original elements and the history behind the space.” This approach kept as much of the extant architecture as possible, carving out open-plan seating areas for meeting and designing.
A set of freestanding wood hangers display decades of Nanimarquina’s bold, innovative rugs, which grace the floors and walls of more than 80,000 homes around the world. In the back, a simple table transforms a space once used as a living room into a cozy private meeting room, complete with a fireplace. “It’s the most special and intimate area,” she says. “It connects with the sense of home and, at the same time, with the past. We like the past because it makes us think of all the people who lived in the space before, a place full of life and lived memories.”
Not that Nanimarquina is stuck in the past. This spring, the company announced Doblecara, the latest collection in their longtime collaboration with Ronan Bouroullec and a fine example of their ongoing interest in using their in-house expertise to realize the ideas of outside talent, including Ilse Crawford and Jamie Hayon among many others, some of whom also work in the neighborhood. “We’ve moved from SoHo because we wanted to stay closer to the architects and interior designers,” says Maria Piera Marquina, the company’s CEO and Nani’s daughter. “Moreover, investing in a new showroom in New York means opening a window to the world.” And quite a lovely window, at that.
All images courtesy of Nanimarquina.
