Photo: Keisuke Ono Hotta Carpet Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Izumi City, Osaka Prefecture, President: Masaya Hotta), which manufactures and sells wool carpets, will launch "Tanbo," a new product in its wool tile carpet collection "WOOLTILE for Home," in collaboration with British designer Felix Conran. Pre-sales will begin on July 1, 2026 (Wed.) on the Hotta Carpet online store and the official Felix Conran online site, with general sales scheduled to start on August 1, 2026 (Sat.) at authorized retailers nationwide. "Tanbo" is a wool tile carpet inspired by the Japanese rice paddies and the changing seasons that Felix Conran, who relocated his base to Higashi-Yoshiino Village, Nara Prefecture in 2024, has felt in his daily life. Based on Felix's perspective, who lives next to a former rice paddy and wishes to plant rice there again someday, the carpet expresses the shimmering light of the rice fields and the scenery that changes with the seasons as 50cm square tile carpets. The four-part pattern, reminiscent of rice paddy divisions, and four colors representing the rural landscape that changes with each season, bring natural rhythm and depth to the floor. Based on a design that divides a single tile into four parts like the character "田" (ta, meaning rice field), four patterns are offered: "1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4," with slight variations in the two-color scheme. By freely combining the tiles, the expression of the floor can be changed according to one's lifestyle and the season, from orderly layouts to rhythmic, random arrangements. A collaboration born from dialogue, not product development The encounter between Felix Conran and Hotta Carpet was not initially intended for product development. Through factory tours and discussions, opinions were exchanged on manufacturing and living environments, leading to Felix proposing a design he wanted to realize with wool tiles. Felix himself conducted pattern verification using commercially available tile carpets, and the design con