Design for myriad minds – rugs for neurodiverse conditions

Denna Jones looks at how rug design can impact mental health—particularly neurodiverse individuals—from stressful patterns to soothing textures and materials

The term ‘No content rug’ describes the luxurious monochrome, pattern-free low pile rugs often found in the monastic-like domestic interiors inspired by the Belgian designer Axel Vervoordt—who believes that ‘a home should be a personal expression of your soul’. ‘No content rug’ and its inverse ‘content rich rug’ are useful categories to describe how the design and materials of rugs (and carpets) can benefit or harm people who live with neurodivergent conditions.

Defined as being outside what societies traditionally consider the cognitive (neurotypical) norm, neurodivergent conditions include Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD, dyslexia, bipolarity and OCD. Natural-fibre rugs with motifs not amplified by high-contrast colour palettes are generally unproblematic for everyone. If these so-called ‘no content rugs’ also offer tactile opportunities such as hand-knotting, nubby weaves or carved and plush piles, they can be beneficial to anyone of any age who uses touch to self-soothe and self-regulate.

The provenance of problematic ‘content rich rugs’ has been researched by Arnold J. Wilkins, Emeritus Professor of Psycology at at Essex University, whose influential book Visual Stress (1995) provides case studies of patterns and colour contrasts that trigger Visual Stress Syndrome. The emerging field of neuroaesthetic interior design can be reductionist, whereas Professor Wilkins’s research and proprietary software, developed with Olivier Penacchio, scientifically proves what triggers visual stress when looking at rugs, carpets and the built environment.

Images and colours inspired by the natural world can soothe the psyche, but it’s also true that the primary negative design triggers —stripes and spots—are linked to animal patterns. ‘Images in the natural world have three things in common,’ says Wilkins. ‘There is little flicker; colour contrast is modest; and there are few regular [geometric] patterns. Neurons in the human brain are evolutionally coded to these three features. Patterns that deviate—those with repetitive elements and high contrast—such as zebra stripes or the spots on the blue ringed octopus—are so rare in the natural world that the human brain cannot process them effciently. The result is excessive neural activity when they are experienced.’

Such problems are not limited to people with neurodivergent conditions. ‘The size of the pattern and the size of its repetitive elements are critical,’ says Wilkins, ‘as is the distance from which the pattern is viewed and whether the pattern is exacerbated with high contrast colours’. A recent article in the New York Times—‘Take the “Death Stairs” If You Dare’— featured a long, narrow stepped hotel hallway with wall-to-wall carpet designed with a pattern of black and white stripes of varying widths. The carpet’s dizzying flicker effect has caused numerous guests to trip and fall.

‘Content rich’ problems include materials. ‘All I want is a rug that doesn’t try to kill me in my sleep’ was a comment posted on the website Apartment Therapy in 2019. It vividly personifies a rug as a murderous version of the proverbial monster under the bed. It referenced the alarming frequency of rugs and carpets with stain resistors, flame retardants, ‘performance’ solutions, and chemical adhesives. Anthesis Consulting’s 2017 report to the European Union on carpet toxins noted that ‘many of the chemicals… may volatilise and/or migrate…through typical use and abrasion of carpet as well as adhere to dust—making dermal, inhalation, and ingestion exposure to their toxic effects all possible’. A popular washable US rug brand that attracts celebrity collabs carries a DEHP warning on all its rugs. DEHP is a known endocrine disruptor that can cause neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD.

Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates’s instruction ‘first, do no harm’ is wise advice for choosing rugs and carpets. ‘No harm’ must mean chemical-free, and it should mean prioritising natural fibres such as pure wool unaugmented with nylon. People with neurodivergent conditions will benefit from ‘content free’ rugs, a category whose prominence will rise thanks to Professor Wilkins’s groundbreaking research and software that shows why we should choose designs that are healthy for the human mind.