Twenty-Four Hours Ahead: The Time Zone Rug

The pattern on this massive 2 x 3 meter area rug—about 6.6 x 9.8 feet for those of us in the States—might look vaguely familiar. It’s much more than a cool design; though without a map of the world behind it, you probably wouldn’t realize that the series of lines actually forms the world’s time zones.

The Time Zone Rug is part of the Urban Fabric collection by Shanghai-based design firm, Four O Nine. Making it possible to walk from one side of the International Date Line to the other in just a few steps, the Time Zone Rug represents an abstract and entirely man-made concept in 100% New Zealand Virgin Wool.

Time zones are an essentially imaginary system; but a system that affects the whole world. With Four O Nine’s self-proclaimed “fascination with abstract non-physical divisions inscribed on the earth’s surface,” the Time Zone Rug is a perfect representation of this aesthetic.

A spectrum of grays progresses from darkest at either end of the rug to lightest at the center. The symmetry of the color gradient, though certainly cool and modern from a design standpoint, furthers the time zone theme. The light and dark of the rug imitates day and night in various parts of the world at a specific moment.

This striking creation by Four O Nine brings together the conceptual and the physical. These invisible lines that rule our lives have suddenly materialized. The Time Zone Rug makes an idea into something to rub your feet on.

Photography courtsey of Four O Nine