Marco Polo lives on, through pages in history books, shouts of “Marco!” “Polo!” in swimming pools and now design. The 13th century explorer’s epic travels serve as the inspiration for Milliken Contract’s Marco Polo collection, ” the “harmonious convergence of ideas and cultures, of traditions and technologies.” With design by two different companies, Q Studio and Mancini Duffy, the collection brings Eastern influences into Western practice and New World efficiencies to Old World opulence. “Each of the collections eight patterns draws inspiration from a stop on Marco Polo’s epic adventure.”

Marco Polo. Designed by Mancini Duffy for the Roger Milliken Center, Corporate headquarters.

His return from Asia in 1295, with tales of paper money and “burning rocks” (his description of coal), yielded incredulous and disbelieving responses from his fellow Venetians. His nearly 25 years spent traveling the world yielded amazing and varied experiences. The collection’s eight patterns mach named after a location, serve as a mini (abstract) history lesson. Patterns of various scales, from naturalistic floral prints to geometric designs, tell Marco Polo’s story. “As diverse as they are they combine as effortlessly as a Silk Road merchant’s far-flung wares, producing spectacular floral planes.” Named after the high desert oasis of Kashgar, the key to Silk Road trade and thus a rich cultural crossroads, the naturalistic floral design design honors the traditional rug designs of Central Asia. Venezia, where Marco Polo returned to following his world travels, “brings an Asian sense of order to a small scale pattern that evokes the feel of fine Venetial tile work, or even Roman mosaics.”

Marco Polo. Designed by Q Studi for the Miliken New York Showroom.

Marco Polo. Designed by Q Studi for the Miliken New York Showroom.

Marco Polo. Designed by Q Studi for the Miliken New York Showroom.

Marco Polo. Designed by Mancini Duffy for the Roger Miliken Center, Corporate headquarters.

The product boasts modular flexibility, easy maintenance and environmental leadership. The collection contains no PVC or other chemical sthat affect IAQ and employee health and safety. It can be installed without adhesive, “further eliminating the energy needed for installation, maintenance and replacement over time.