Roby Isaac Is Building a More Diverse Product Design Landscape

With strategies ranging from artist collaborations to recruitment, Roby Isaac, vice president of commercial design for Mannington Mills, hopes to pave the way for the next generation.

By: Chaseedaw Giles

Perhaps Roby Isaac’s refreshing approach to product design comes from the fact that he still recalls his youth as “an inner-city kid,” even now that he is currently calling the shots on new collections for flooring manufacturer Mannington. When the company adds talent, Isaac says his team does look for design school grads with a focus on
textiles, but is also willing to teach.

“If you have the design foundations, we can teach the tricks of our trade regarding manufacturing, digital software, et cetera,” Isaac says. As an established industry player, Mannington tends to collaborate with multiple design firms. “That’s how we’re able to reach out to up-and-coming firms that do really beautiful work,” he says.

He gets most excited about the company’s unconventional collaborations, such as a series of partnerships with artists, including fiber artist Gabriel Dawe. “We connect with these artists and try to transpose their concepts into [a collection of] four patterns.” The collaboration with Dawe birthed the Moiré Collection, which combines patterning and ethereally gradated colors for broadloom and modular carpet. “We’re trying to find this balance of art and design,” Isaac says.