A floor or wall is never just a surface. It determines how a space feels, how colors enhance one another, and where the eye lingers. For designer Irene van Ophoven, a design therefore doesn’t start with the question of how it looks, but with what it can evoke. Irene: “I find it interesting that a design can both add character and form a calm base. Especially in a time where we experience so much digitally, the physical environment in which we live and work becomes increasingly important. An interior should not only be beautiful, but also feel pleasant and provide space for the people who use it.”
For TREU interior specials, Irene developed a collection of designs where form, rhythm, color, and composition come together: Where form meets texture. Designs that don’t just dress a floor or wall, but set a room in motion. Graphic, rhythmic, and deliberately open to interpretation. Not as a fixed image, but as an invitation to look, combine, and add a personal story.
A visual language that unfolds
Irene’s perspective is shaped by a broad creative background. Her work has been presented in Paris and Milan, among other places. She studied art history and cultural studies at the University of Amsterdam, worked in the cultural and museum sector, and subsequently developed as a project manager, communication advisor, stylist, and designer. She still maneuvers between diverse disciplines: from building brands to curating exhibitions.
That versatility is palpable in the way she designs. Irene doesn’t look exclusively at the aesthetics of a design, but at its effect within a space. What happens when a pattern spreads across a large floor surface? What does color do to the atmosphere? And how can a graphic element provide character without overshadowing the other layers in the interior?
“Taking the context in which the design will end up into account is what makes designing so interesting. With rugs and carpets, you are dealing with large surfaces. Then it is important that a design can bring tranquility, but also has character. It must leave room for the rest of the interior.”
For Irene, every design therefore begins with depth. Into the style, the atmosphere, and the people for whom a space is designed. She also recognizes this attention to context among interior professionals: they too are constantly looking for a solution that aligns with a client’s identity and the overall picture of an interior. Together with TREU interior specials, Irene wanted to create a collection that offers the space to give shape to that. TREU interior specials saw in her designs the possibilities for customization and for patterns that can adapt to diverse interiors.
For the collection, form, rhythm, color, and composition form the starting point. Those four elements return in every design, but never as a rigid system. They form a framework within which her design can surprise, change, and adapt to the place where it ends up.
Between intuition and precision
The origin of Irene’s designs is rarely traceable to one clear moment. Designs emerge for Irene in a natural flow, from impressions gathered over time: a detail from a painting, the linework of a building, a mural, a test print on paper.
“I absorb a lot like a sponge. At a certain point, a particular direction feels interesting and I build on that.” During this process, those loose elements gain more and more cohesion. Thus, an initial intuitive direction grows into a design in which form, rhythm, and color are deliberately aligned.
That doesn’t mean her designs happen by chance. On the contrary. Although she leaves room for experiment and intuition, every choice is carefully weighed. Irene works with mood boards, colors, materials, and images of interiors to explore a direction before a design takes shape. In doing so, she always looks ahead: not just at how a pattern looks on a swatch, but specifically at what it does when it becomes larger, repeats, or becomes part of a complete interior.
“Material and technique also play a role in that. A design can work differently due to the structure and appearance of the carpet than it does on paper or on a screen. I find that translation from design to material very interesting.”
Furthermore, not everything in her designs has to be completely polished. “A small shift in a form, an unexpected combination, or a manual nuance in a line can provide tension and individuality. Those elements give a design a human character, make it more lively, and ensure the design invites you to look longer.”
Rhythmic design
Rhythm plays an important role in Irene’s designs. She describes this as the repetition of form, where a design can function both as an independent element and within a larger pattern. Especially with carpet tiles, this offers interesting possibilities.
“A pattern can be constructed so that it continues from tile to tile, creating an almost infinite surface. At the same time, the design also holds up as an individual form or in a smaller composition. That was an important starting point for the designs within the collection: it must form an interesting image on its own, but also when it repeats as a pattern on a larger surface.”
That continuous thought doesn’t have to stop at the floor. When the interior calls for it, a design can just as easily be extended to wallpaper or curtains to create a total concept that brings the space together optically.
The possibility of combining the designs with each other is an important part of this collection. A bold graphic design can be paired with a calmer pattern, both on the floor and on the wall. Color also offers many possibilities: by choosing a different color scheme, the same design can take on a completely different look. This creates not a fixed recipe, but a collection with which interior professionals and clients can create their own story.
Designs move along
“For me, it is successful if a design offers multiple possibilities, gives freedom, and adds playfulness.” That playfulness doesn’t have to result in a sea of choices. Irene sees that complete freedom can also be paralyzing. That is why Irene works with specific color schemes in her collection that provide direction and show what is possible. From there, an interior professional or client can build further.
That happened, for example, with a client who took an existing swatch as a starting point but wanted to reverse the colors and add an extra shade. “Then you already have a direction, but you can give it a different twist. By reversing colors, it really looks like a completely different product again.”
“A design for a bold interior requires something different than a design for a calm, more modest environment. This collection offers a clear starting point without fixing the final image. The designs provide structure but remain open to personal interpretation.”
From idea to interior
For Irene, the strength of the collaboration with TREU interior specials lies in the combination of content and practice. An initial, intuitive design thought is translated through material and product knowledge into a concrete product that can be applied at different scales and in different interiors. “I can think from the image and the space, while TREU looks from material, technique, and application at what is needed to make a design work well as a product.”
In addition, technical choices can enhance the design. For example, when a full-color design for carpet tiles is reduced to a more limited palette, an image can actually become more graphic and powerful.
It is a thought that fits well with TREU interior specials: creativity only truly gains value when it can also land convincingly in a space.
Tell your own story
Irene’s collection shows that a design can be more than a decorative element. It can connect an interior, give a room rhythm, and invite someone to look differently. Not by imposing one story, but by laying the foundation for a story that can keep changing.
“The strength lies in that freedom: the collection gives a clear starting point, but the final image emerges together with the space, the materials, the colors, and the choices of the person working with it.”
Curious how this collection can enhance your floor, wall, or complete interior concept? TREU interior specials is happy to brainstorm about design, color, material, and application.