Kateha x Charlotte von der Lancken

Kateha’s new Pond collection celebrates collaboration in the natural world

Swedish designer Charlotte von der Lancken’s new Pond collection for Kateha is inspired by the eye-catching fish gathering known as a ‘shoal’. Scientifically, the collective gathering is known as ‘shoaling’—a balletic biological behaviour pattern that for human viewers is a highly pleasurable, calming experience. 

The biological pleasure principle of shoaling (for humans that is) was translated by von der Lancken and her Kateha colleagues through the design of the weave and also through the rug’s physical lozenge shape (the collection also includes rectangular rugs). The geometry of shoal shapes varies. Many scientists refer to these shapes as ‘multifaceted lozenges’, a description that corresponds with von der Lancken’s choice for the unique rug shape. Working closely with Kateha and its weavers, von der Lancken and her colleagues developed a new combination of weaving techniques to achieve the collection’s six-sided hexagonal (lozenge) rug, a shape that serves to highlight the repeated lozenge pattern of the woven design where each lozenge suggests a fish. 

Pond Soumak is named after the technique chosen for the weave. A reversible, handwoven rug, weft wool yarn is moved horizontally and wrapped around—not through—linen warp strings. This soumak technique is variable and creates a ‘semi-pile’ rather than the more common traditional pile surface. If the weaver or designer desires a more prominent ‘pile’ then weft fibre is simultaneously wrapped around a cluster of warp strings rather than a single warp string. 

Soumak is a perfect technique to outline an area of weave to create varied height and rich textural features as seen in Pond Soumak. Available in three colour options: Garden, Margarita, Roses, Pond Sumak’s sister rug Pond Flossa also features the lozenge ‘fish’ and is available in colour options Midnight, Roses, Winter.