POOR Collective's debut rug collection evokes London's Trellick Tower
Design practice POOR Collective has unveiled Power, two flatwoven rugs informed by the brutalist Trellick Tower housing block, which will be on display at London Design Festival.
Power is the first mass-produced design product from London-based POOR Collective, a socially minded creative practice with a community development focus.
Created in collaboration with local manufacturer Floor Story, the collection features a duo of rugs in two colourways – evergreen and tangerine.
Each piece was flat-woven with warp and weft yarns of New Zealand wool, patterned with intersecting geometric shapes that nod to the angular architecture of Ernö Goldfinger's iconic Trellick Tower.
Completed in 1972 and located on west London's Golborne Road, the housing estate's varied legacy was POOR Collective's starting point for the collection.
"Trellick Tower felt like a natural choice for us to draw on because it has such a strong visual identity," collective co-founder and designer Ben Spry told Dezeen.
"But also, because of the social history and cultural significance attached to it. It's a building that has been through a lot of different perceptions over its lifetime," he continued.
"That felt relevant to POOR because so much of our work is about challenging assumptions about places and communities, and thinking about how design can contribute to a different narrative."
Handwoven in India, the rectangular rugs will be on display during this month's upcoming London Design Festival (LDF) as part of an exhibition at Floor Story's London showroom.
Power was a full collaboration between Spry, fellow collective members Akmaral Khassen, Shawn Adams, Larry Botchway and Matt Harvey-Agyemang, as well as Floor Story designer Gill Thorpe.
Previously, the collective has focussed on more site-specific projects including the colourful renovation of a south London games court and a covered pavilion designed to draw attention to the realities faced by urban night-shift workers.
But Power marks the group's debut mass-produced product conceived for a brand.
Spry explained why this new direction is meaningful for the collective.
"POOR has always been interested in making design accessible and putting it into people's everyday lives, so the opportunity to take something that has come out of our design practice and make it available to a much wider audience felt like a really exciting progression," said the designer.
"A lot of our work is commissioned and site-specific, often involving a particular community or place," he added.
"We love that, but it can also mean that the work exists in one location and is experienced by a relatively small number of people. A product has a different kind of reach. It can enter people's homes and become part of their everyday environment."
The photography is by Mark Cocksedge.
London Design Festival takes place from 12 to 20 September. See our London Design Festival 2026 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks that took place during the week.
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