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Orpheu
The little waves of Henri Matisse
Ondine, our favorite design from Orpheu, mimics the wiggling line-work of Henri Matisse with a simple squiggle that swims around the rug’s perimeter. This, and the seven other designs of the collection speak a language of dreamy fluidity.
Date
March 11th, 2025
Author
Beni
PHOTOGRAPHY
Hélène Adant
Shown left and right: shadows and light dance inside the The Rosary Chapel in Venice, decorated in the perspective of Matisse back in 1947.
When forced to pick a favorite, designer Clio Dimofski said that the "little waves" of Ondine pleased her the most out of the eight styles she created with her partner Olivier Garcé for Orpheu. Fluid and free, its simple motif of a singular red squiggle swims around the perimeter of the rug without a care in the world.
This subtle expression of joy recalls the playful line-work of Henry Matisse, the brains and brushstroke behind the Fauvist art movement. A pioneer of immaculate vision and relentless craft, Matisse and this way of seeing, was a key source of inspiration for the design of Orpheu, translating big feelings into simple shapes.
Every rug in the Orpheu collection presents a woolen canvas of vibrant color and melodic movement from radical rays of sunlight to geometric towers of Azulejo tiling.
As Matisse put it: a thimbleful of red is redder than a bucketful. On that note, Olivier Garcé shared that their studio views interior design as a poetry of space that's felt through balance and seen through simplicity.
"It is a discipline where symmetry and proportion create harmony, allowing volumes to speak for themselves. Just as da Vinci sought clarity in his works, we believe that true beauty in design emerges when forms are left to express their essence, unburdened by excess," explains Olivier Garcé.
The development of The Parakeet and the Mermaid on the walls of Matisse’s studio at the Hôtel Régina, Nice, 1952.
Similar to the waving gestures of Ondine, Echo, Olivier's favorite design from the collection, recalls the methodology of Matisse and his era of paper cut-outs. Combining both knotted and flatwoven wool, the dual motif resembles how Matisse would layer strips of paper until he got the imagery just as he imagined it.
Drawing inspiration from Portugal’s illustrious history, Orpheu's namesake was derived from a short-lived literary magazine in Lisbon, originally founded in 1915 by Fernando Pessoa, a poet whose greatest desire was to feel everything in every way. Dancing shadows, daisy chains, and forgotten dreams transmogrify in these designs, shapeshifting into rugs that combine flatwoven and knotted wool, a new hybrid technique orchestrated by our master weavers.
In this corner view of Solaris, the complex construction of this rug's design is put on full display, combining both knotted and flatwoven wool.
Like the rambling daisy chains of Fado, here sits a tall glass vase of wildflowers depicted in paint by Henri Matisse in 1939. The artist who famously told us that there are always flowers for those who wish to see them.
Designed by the Lisbon-based multi-disciplinary studio Garcé & Dimofski, Orpheu offers a kaleidoscopic view of perception and how beautifully the dial turns for each individual person and how they interpret the world. With every design, like an abstract painting, you decide what you see.
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