This Wired magazine article builds on a related story in The New Yorker [see The Carpets of Vegas: Floorscapes at the Casino]. Titled Ugly Vegas Carpets Want You to Keep Playing, it, too, brings up Chris Maluszynski's Las Vegas Carpets photographic series.
In the article and the series, you'll experience the surreal quality of both carpet and Las Vegas. Where else but in Las Vegas can such intensely exuberant and patterned carpet be more appropriate? Where else can it support addictive activity?
I love the points made by Dave Schwartz, Director of the Center for Gaming Research, at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
He states that “casino carpet is known as an exercise in deliberate bad taste that somehow encourages people to gamble.” Talk about addictive!
At the same time, each carpet design distinctly defines individual casinos. Per the article, "Schwartz also points out that the busy carpets are not without design: There are floral designs at Mandalay Palace, abstract pointillist floors at Paris and, at Caesars Palace, the wheel – the Roman symbol of the “relentless capriciousness of fortune.”" [See Empty Pockets, Happy Feet & Casino Carpet.]
For me, prolonged exposure to the visual intensity [and energy] of the various bold and colorful patterns creates sensory overload. That's when I seek refuge in my hotel room where if I'm lucky, as you can see in Wow! Mirage Carpet, a tastefully subdued design scheme will definitely offer a well-deserved break!
What's your take on Las Vegas carpet? Do you have a preferred Casino pattern? Let me know!
A few additional casino-related carpet posts:
+ NY-NY Casino Abandons Branded Carpet
+ Way-Finding With Carpet
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