Archinect - Features 2024-05-05T00:00:24-04:00 https://archinect.com/features/article/149988793/cutting-a-rug-making-the-abstract-tangible-with-urban-fabric-elena-manferdini-s-building-portraits-area-rugs Cutting a Rug: Making the Abstract Tangible With Urban Fabric + Elena Manferdini's "Building Portraits" area rugs Julia Ingalls 2017-02-10T12:13:00-05:00 >2017-02-10T12:35:33-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/10/10003ltkasvpv70e.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>After the success of <a href="http://archinect.com/features/article/117968112/upstarts-four-o-nine-architecture-and-design" target="_blank">Four O Nine&rsquo;s &ldquo;Urban Fabric&rdquo; rugs</a>, the firm has partnered with designer Elena Manferdini to create &ldquo;Building Portraits,&rdquo; a series of limited-edition area rugs that incorporate riffs on Miesian patterns and city grids with more abstract impressions of urbanity. The result, as unveiled in an opening in L.A.&rsquo;s Chinatown on January 27th, is a mesmerizing blend of texture and architectural imagination.</p> https://archinect.com/features/article/117968112/upstarts-four-o-nine-architecture-and-design UpStarts: Four O Nine architecture and design Julia Ingalls 2015-01-12T09:30:00-05:00 >2015-01-21T20:48:03-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/de/defyr5i1bhvqzqoa.JPG?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>In a country infamous for its one time zone and countless architectural knock-offs, Four O Nine's success is startling and original.&nbsp;</p><p><em><a href="http://archinect.com/features/tag/11336/upstarts" target="_blank"><strong>UpStarts</strong></a>&nbsp;is a series of features on the foundations of contemporary practice. It will have a global reach in which practices from Europe, North America, Asia, and beyond will be asked to address the work behind getting the work, and the effect of cultural contexts. The focus will be on how a practice is initiated and maintained. In many ways, the critical years of a fledgling design partnership is within the initial five years, after the haze and daze of getting it off the ground.&nbsp;<strong><a href="http://archinect.com/features/tag/11336/upstarts" target="_blank">UpStarts</a></strong>&nbsp;surveys the first years of practice as a tool for tracking the tactics of the rapidly evolving methods for sustaining a practice.</em></p>