modularity as a strategy to add value
to pre-consumer waste
Project: Trencadís
Client: Barcelona Rugs
Location: Barcelona (Spain)
Year: 2019 / 2024
Materials: Carpet, textiles
Keywords: Product design, upcycling, modular, online configurator
Why?
Barcelona Rugs is a leading carpet and rug company with years of experience and a broad client base, both nationally and internationally. One of their business lines focuses on carpet supply and installation, which inevitably generates high-quality material scraps. Due to their reduced size, these leftover pieces have limited commercial use and are difficult to reintroduce into the market.
To prevent this valuable material from ending up in landfills or being incinerated, we collaborated with Barcelona Rugs to develop a new product that transforms these remnants into elegant, sustainable pieces suitable for a wide range of spaces.
What?
Trencadís is a modular rug collection made from pre-consumer waste. The collection consists of two geometric modules —large and small— that can be freely combined to create custom configurations. By repurposing offcuts of high-quality carpet, the Trencadís line gives new life to materials that would otherwise go to waste.
To support designers, architects, and end users, we developed an online configurator that allows users to design their own Trencadís rug based on the available stock of leftover materials. The configurator enables experimentation with endless combinations and ensures optimal use of all remnants.
Each square meter of Trencadís avoids the treatment of 1.5 to 2.4 kg of difficult-to-manage waste, reducing pressure on waste management systems. Reintroducing these materials into the value chain also prevents the use of virgin raw materials, saving up to 600 liters of water and avoiding up to 96 kg of CO₂e emissions per sqm.
HOW?
Trencadís’ modular design offers distinct sustainability and usability benefits. Its format allows small carpet scraps to be repurposed efficiently, and the stackable modules reduce volume during transport, minimizing emissions and logistics costs. The pieces are designed to fit on standard pallets, maximizing distribution efficiency.
From a user perspective, Trencadís offers complete design freedom. It can serve as a subtle and refined accent by combining similar tones and textures, or as a bold statement piece with vibrant contrasting colors. Thanks to the modular shapes and endless layout possibilities, the rug adapts to a wide range of formats—from a single unit to large-scale installations of 10, 20, or 50 pieces.
Trencadís is also available in an outdoor version using materials specifically suited to exterior conditions, expanding its functionality to a wide variety of settings.
