To kick off Women's History Month, we checked in with designer Nani Marquina who founded the innovative rug brand nanimarquina in 1987.

To celebrate Women’s History Month, every Friday in March we’ll be featuring women in the design world in our Friday Five column.

Photo courtesy of nanimarquina
To kick off Women’s History Month, we checked in with Spanish designer Nani Marquina who founded the innovative rug brand nanimarquina in 1987. Growing up, Nani was immersed in design having a father, Rafael Marquina, that was a celebrated Catalan designer himself, even winning an award for his 1961 oil cruet. That led to studying industrial design at the Escuela Massana in Barcelona where she fell in love with designing textiles and found success selling custom works. Looking to grow, Nani opened up shop, carefully seeking out the best raw materials and manufacturing processes out there for her rugs and textiles. Along the way, she brought in international designers, like Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Milton Glaser, Jaime Hayon, and Neri & Hu, to collaborate on unique collections, becoming the first textile designer to create the concept of designer rugs. Nani, as well as the brand, continues to produce visionary rugs and textiles that focus on shapes, colors, and textures that people instantly recognize as her designs. Read on to see what she chose to include in her Friday Five. Photo by Albert Font
1. I’m in love with plants and f...