Loods 5 X Enkel Art Studio
What happens when a brand gives an artist complete freedom to experiment?
That’s exactly what happened when I collaborated with Loods 5 during my time at Enkel Art Studio. I was given the space to take the hand printed monoprints beyond paper, turning them into prints and patterns that eventually grew into a complete collection of interior products.
This is what I love to do!
Before I founded Enkel Art Studio, I worked for years and years as a print and pattern designer. Patterns for interior and fashion, repeatable, scalable, seasonal. But the more I worked with hand printed monoprints at Enkel Art Studio, the more that old love for pattern design started calling me back.How do you translate something unique into a repeat without losing its soul? That was the challenge I'd secretly been looking for all along.
And then Loods 5 reached out!
What most people don't know is that a monoprint is, by definition, unique. One press, one work. No two are ever exactly the same.
A pattern for a wool rug, chair or cushion works in the opposite way: it has to be repeatable, consistent and scalable. And that was exactly the challenge. How do you translate something so handmade and one of a kind into a reproducible product without losing it's unique character.
The design process: from monoprint to interior print
We made patterns from fragments pieces of original Enkel Art Studio monoprints that we scaled up and repeated. On the Togo chair, the print details are most directly visible. The Moroccan wool rug went even further: an enormous zoom into a Narangi monoprint, until nothing remained but structures and colour gradients.
Colour was crucial. We worked with a Pantone fan and created detailed product sheets so the producers could reproduce exactly what we had in mind.
Sampling & production: handmade in India for Loods 5
Most items in the Loods 5 × Enkel Art Studio collection were made by hand in India a deliberate choice, because handwork adds something machines simply can't. But before we got there, the first samples arrived. And honestly? That first round wasn't right. Too smooth, too neat, too much of the rawness of the original monoprints had been lost.
When sampling, you look closely at materials. Not just whether they're beautiful, but whether they carry the print. A handprinted design reads completely differently on one material than another. We looked for materials with a luxurious feel that would show the monoprint on fabric as purely as possible. So we sent feedback, adjusted, and waited for the next round. That back and forth is a large part of the process nobody sees. But it's what ultimately makes the difference between okay and exactly right.
The shoot day: everything comes together
The day the entire Loods 5 × Enkel Art Studio collection came together. Trucks full of furniture, a full photography team, and a studio that slowly transformed into a complete interior.
After seeing the designs on screen for so long, it was pretty surreal to suddenly see one of our handmade prints on an actual chair, fresh off the truck. That was the moment it really felt like a real collection.
What I loved most was how naturally everything worked together. The colours, patterns and materials all spoke the same language, even though they were used across completely different products.
As a print and pattern designer, I'd spent years creating collections like this for other brands. This time, it was for myself!!
Enkel Art Studio at Loods 5
And then it was time. The entire limited edition interior collection of Enkel Art Studio, really in Loods 5.
Multiple interior corners were styled throughout the store, bringing the collection into different settings and showing how the pieces could work together in a real home. These were supported by imagery from our studio, giving a glimpse of the handmade process behind the designs. A film of the project also played on large screens throughout the store, connecting the finished collection back to the art studio where it all started.
Creative collaboration
This kind of collaboration where you're given the freedom as an artist to translate a monoprint all the way into a full handmade interior collection is exactly what drives me. The combination of handmade craftsmanship, colour expertise and a larger platform gives me the energy I loooove!!
Dreaming of a collaboration between your brand and a print and pattern designer? Get in touch with me at hello@marijnvink.com I'd love to start the conversation.
