New Dimensions of Colour: Dye Lab and Understated Neutrals by Shaw Contract
Colour as experimentation. Neutrality as intention. The latest launches from Shaw Contract combine artistic expression with refined simplicity, answering the needs of contemporary, sustainable workplaces.
Our Strategic Partner, Shaw Contract, introduces exciting updates that expand design possibilities across office and commercial interiors. The iconic Dye Lab collection welcomes new colourways, while Creative Connections is now complete with its fourth and final style: Understated Neutrals.
Dye Lab – Experimenting in Colour
Dye Lab is a carpet tile collection inspired by natural dyes and traditional textile dyeing techniques. The design team challenged the conventional piece-dye process, developing an innovative approach that mimics ancient methods of folding and bundling fabric before dyeing. The result is an extraordinary depth of colour with subtle, irregular tonal shifts – progressing from light to richly saturated hues.
The refreshed palette retains the most beloved original shades while introducing striking new tones, including:
- Elderberry – a deep violet-plum shade with blue-black depth, extracted from dark berries,
- Mint – a fresh botanical green, lighter and more luminous than traditional leaf tones, bridging sage and aqua,
- Rust – a warm, earth-driven orange-brown formed through oxidation, with rich red undertones.
Each tile is unique, featuring delicate marbling and hundreds of subtle variations. Dye Lab enables both intimate, atmospheric interiors and bold, expressive colour statements – always grounded in an organic, natural aesthetic.
Understated Neutrals – The Art of Refined Simplicity
Creative Connections is a four-style collection where creativity meets sustainability. Its final chapter, Understated Neutrals, embodies quiet elegance enriched by a sophisticated neutral palette. It bridges the original Understated colours with the Poetic Form collection, creating a unified and cohesive design language.
Available in 12 colourways, Understated Neutrals spans warm beige creams, mineral greys and deeper, smoky tones inspired by stone and metal. The subtle fleck pattern that defines the Understated style remains, now expressed in a softer, tonal approach that enhances depth without distraction. Designed as a versatile neutral foundation for field applications, it pairs effortlessly with the Interlaced and Interwoven styles.
The collection is developed with low embodied carbon solutions, using EcoSolution Q100™ fibre made from 100% recycled content and backing systems designed within a closed-loop approach.
These latest introductions from Shaw Contract represent the balance between creative exploration and responsible design – a thoughtful response to the evolving expectations of modern workplaces.
