Spoiled Copper Wallpaper by Piet Hein Eek
Dutch wallpaper brand NLXL Lab have launched a new collection of wallpapers including designs from Piet Hein Eek, Niel Poulton, Studio Job, Paola Navone and NLXL founders Rick & Esther Vintage. Founded in 2014, NLXL Lab was established to launch products outside of NLXL’s traditional collection launches. Originally intended as an online exclusive brand via a small section of retailers, Lab is now available worldwide. We caught up with Mr Rick Vintage to discuss the new collection and future plans.
Supermarket Wallpaper by Paola Navone
Its almost two years exactly since you launched NLXL LAB. In that time you have launched a total of eleven wallpaper designs, key charms, tea towels, stools and notebooks. Did you feel it was time present a new series of wallpaper designs?
Well since the inception of NLXL LAB we have made collections with Paola Navone, Daniel Rozensztroch and "Materials" with Piet Hein Eek. I took a sabbatical for one year and spent a lot of time having lunch and drinking wine with designers. This way we got more ideas for wallpapers. LAB was originally intended as an online exclusive line. But this had two down sides. The first is that we have a niche product. Which is ok because there is a large market for niche products. But by selling it online we created a niche within a niche. And than the niche suddenly becomes to limited to create good enough sales. Second: we have an enormous client base. And they all loved the LAB ideas. But we had to turn them down because of the "online only" limit. So when our designers came up with some pretty good new ideas we decided to invest in catalogues and promotion to get LAB out to our retailers worldwide.
Spoiled Copper Wallpaper (Metallic) by Piet Hein Eek
Black Brick from the original NLXL LAB range was recently added Materials. Do you feel the freedom of one-off designs can give can give birth to a wider collection. Can you see that potential within the designs?
That's the great thing about LAB. We add something and we take something out. It's like music. Nobody buys an album anymore. They just buy (or download) the songs they love. That's NLXL LAB. Which is a rarity in the very traditional wallpaper biz. And it gives us a level freedom. And to me freedom is the most important thing in life.
Coloured Chalk Wallpaper by Mr & Mrs Vintage
The new Mr & Mrs Vintage designs are starkly different from the your Big Pattern Murals, does this contrast perfectly sum up the brand? The freedom to create and produce no matter what the style?
Yes. As Piet Hein Eek puts it: "you and Esther don't have any boundaries or rules as designers. You can just put anything you think might work on the market. That's a very comfortable position."
Microscopic Slides Wallpaper by Mr & Mrs Vintage
