I don’t know about you but when I walk into any cinema, that warm, heavy air, thick with the aroma of sticky sweet popcorn and glistening Pick ’n’ Mix never fails to make me feel nostalgic. I might be more interested in watching films with warnings about sex and violence at the beginning these days but a trip to the flicks still has the ability to make me feel like a kid all over again. I always feel at home in a cinema and I partly accredit that to the bouncy, psychedelic carpet that covers the lobby and the signature carpeted walls in the screen room but there is much more to this interior design choice than a trip down memory lane…
A sound design choice
When you head down to your local pictures to catch the latest blockbuster, the last thing you’re going to be considering is the decor. In fact, if you’re one of those pesky people who army crawl their way to their seats in the dark, half way through the trailers, you won’t even have chance to notice the interior design. However carpet and the cinema are actually more closely linked than you’d ever care to think and it’s all to do with noise, sound effects and achieving those all-important acoustics.
As I mentioned in our previous blog post about taking back control of excess noise, carpet is a dab hand at absorbing any unwanted sound and reducing reverberation time. This means, when it comes to the cinema, carpet is the perfect choice as it will drastically reduce sound from outside and heighten the acoustics within the screening space. The last thing you want to hear when Liam Neeson is just about to bust the bad guy is little Lily and her BFF Melissa squabbling over a strawberry slush.
If cinemas were bedecked with laminate, vinyl, wood or any other traditional hard flooring, echoing would also be an issue and just think of the spillage and slippage! Carpet is extremely hardwearing and easy to clean and with the right material, will also offer self-repairing properties so with the high footfall and intensive use that come hand-in-hand with the cinema, its the perfect solution. It also usually provides fire resistant qualities, which is always beneficial in heavily populated public spaces and it’s pretty cheap too because even mega multiplexes love a good bargain.
Carpet in the movies
Aladdin - What do you need if you want to take your beautiful Princess Jasmine on a ride through the balmy Arabian night? That’s right - your trusty flying carpet! Arguably the most iconic carpet to ever grace the silver screen, Aladdin’s magic carpet is a real A-Lister amongst the carpet glitterrati.
Anchorman - I’m not even going to attempt to explain the madness of Anchorman here. If you know, you know. If you don’t know, send it to the top of your to-watch list!
Brick Tamland: I love...carpet. I love… desk.
Ron Burgundy: Brick, are you just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them?
Brick: I love lamp.
The red carpet - I couldn’t include a blog post about carpet and the movies without mentioning the infamous Red Carpet now could I? The red carpet concept came to be in 1902 when The New York Central Railroad laid down a strip of crimson carpet for passengers to board their 20th Century Limited passenger train. The film industry pretty much stole it from there and speaking of which, here are some of our most popular red carpet tiles…
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