In an inspired union of East and West, Tai Ping carpets has teamed up with one of our favourite design incubators, Fabrica, to craft nine unique objects, presented this week at the Designer's Days fair in Paris. The exhibition, called 'From the Floor Up', sees a team of Fabrica creatives - including creative director Sam Baron - transform the traditional carpet into an unexpected work of art.
True to its mission, Fabrica has lovingly reinterpreted the venerable art of carpet-weaving as an imaginative, immersive world. Drawing from Tai Ping's Chinese heritage and the textural potential of carpets in general, Fabrica's range of quirky installations plays up the qualities of Tai Ping's skilled fabrication.
Most of the objects on show make reference to nature. Fabrica's Ryu Yamamoto uses the idea of a rolled-up carpet as the foundation for his 'Tree Trunk', a cylindrical bench that mimics the rings and knots of a fallen log with its multiple layers and etched cut-outs. Dean Brown references the waterfall in his 'Reservoir Rug'; his wall-mounted silk river highlights Tai Ping's talent for creating depth and nuance with texture and colour, mimicking water flowing into three pools before collecting in a 'reservoir' on the floor.
Some designers referenced from the domestic Chinese realm. Mariana Fernandes zoned in on the low stools squatted on by artisans in Tai Ping's China factory. She fitted carpets onto a trio of bench-like frameworks standing at different levels. The installation also nods to the everyday act of sitting on a carpet - though after seeing it, the act will seem less ordinary than extraordinary.
A working illustration of 'Fields', by Valentina Carretta
A sketch of 'Tree Trunk', by Ryu Yamamoto
Yamamoto's carpet combines colour gradients, cutouts and a variety of textures to mimic the layers of a tree and forms a natural bench. Photography: Paul Graves
Giorgia Zanellato's working sketch of 'Raindrops', one of the nine unique carpets in the 'From the Floor Up' series
Five carpets rise up from the floor to become raindrops in Zanellato's contribution. Pictured alongside it is 'Layers', Mariana Fernandes' piece, which was inspired by the rustic benches made by Tai Ping's Chinese artisans. Photography: Paul Graves
A sketch of 'Layers', by Mariana Fernandes
Dean Brown's wall-mounted silk river highlights Tai Ping's talent for creating depth and nuance with texture and colour, mimicking water flowing into three pools before collecting in a 'reservoir' on the floor. Photography: Paul Graves
'Reservoir Rug', by Dean Brown
'Still Life', by Charlotte Juillard, is a decorative console table - an unusual spin on the traditional notion of carpet as a room's centrepiece. Photography: Paul Graves
A working illustration of Juillard's 'Still Life'
A sketch of 'Dog's Caprice', by David Raffoul
'Dog's Caprice' is a doghouse constructed in carpet, with a special pattern of volumed pyramids on the façade and a pure silk rug inside. Photography: Paul Graves
Sam Baron's sketch for 'Foliage'
'Draft', by Catarina Carreiras
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