The Creative Space: Helle Lykke Jensen, Designer for Ege Carpets

We are so interested in where people find their creativity, and in our Creative Space feature we delve into the lives of designers to find out the places that really inspire them.

Helle Lykke Jensen is a danish product designer for Ege Carpets, she was involved in the creation of the beautiful Rawline Scala Range. Today she she tells us about how Dutch Design Week boosted her creativity…

Helle, Can you tell us about your Creative Space?  

I recently went to Eindhoven Design Week in Eindhoven, Netherlands as part of an inspirational trip in connection with an update of the Highline concept, that is the backbone of ege carpets’ assortment.One of the most interesting exhibitions at the event was the works of the students from Eindhoven Design Academy, these projects were so incredibly well thought out. It is not just a new colour, structure or material that is being presented but a completely new product that is actually being missed on the market. The designs are extremely intelligent and at the same time very playful which is – in my opinion – very typical for Dutch design. And they require quite an effort from the students, which is very important too.For instance, I saw the most beautiful bags made from the skin of the cow’s four stomachs – a material that is thrown away in enormous numbers has been upcycled to an aesthetic bag with a completely new structure and colour. Another example was custom flutes for children that are assembled from different parts, making each flute sound totally unique. This makes me think of the ECONYL yarns produced from used fishing nets and other industrial waste materials that are used in many ege carpets collections. How valuable that we can find new uses for materials that were once considered to be rubbish!