Regardless of the typology, New York based studio Deborah Berke Partners is notorious for adding poetic stretches of natural light. Instances of this functional, yet pleasantly esoteric design solution include: swathes of light that thread through the staircase at the Bayside House; the gaping glass ceiling and floor panels that provide daylight to multiple floors at the Nashville 21c Museum Hotel; and the five-story atrium that cuts through the core of the 21c Museum Hotel Louisville. Naturally, daylighting became the main source of inspiration for the architecture practice’s first product line, a rug collection in collaboration with Warp & Weft.

Aptly dubbed Light & Shadow, DBP partner Kiki Dennis explained the initial design was driven by images of the firm’s architecture: “As a group, we very drawn to photos that were abstracted and focused on light, shadow, and materiality.” According to Dennis, the process was very fluid and began with an open-ended powwow in their office. “We studied dozens of images and narrowed them to a grouping,” she said. “Color was initially developed in renderings and with yarn poms and sampling.” This prototyping between image and material allowed the firm to incorporate a color sensibility that felt true to their body of work and naturally work with any space.

Pictured above, Dawn is the first of three textile collections by DBP for Warp &Warp. Later this year, the duo plans two introduce two other collections: Midday, handmade wool rugs from India; and Dusk, a collection with copious texture currently in development. With a neutral color palette, all three collections are designed for boutique hospitality, commercial, and multifamily residential use.

Header image: Designed by partners Kiki Dennis, Deborah Berke, Stephen Brockman, Terrence Schroeder, and Caroline Wharton Ewing, the Light & Shadow collection by Deborah Berke Partners is inspired by natural patterns of light and shadow. (Courtesy Deborah Berke Partners)