Atelier Tapis Rouge, a prominent voice in the contemporary rug scene with deep roots in the ancient Persian tradition, made its debut at the Brera Design District during Milan Design Week, within the spaces of its flagship showroom recently opened at Via Borgonuovo 26.
This occasion served as the perfect stage to showcase their expertise and craftsmanship, giving life to rugs, skilfully combining the dual essence of Tapis Rouge: from more classical collections with traditional and elegant patterns to contemporary collections defined by eclectic shapes, colours, and designs, exhibiting the brand's masterful design capability in transforming creative sparks from designers, artists, and illustrators into excellent products.
The common thread running through the displayed collections was the attention to detail and the quality of materials, such as the fusion of precious wool and silk yarns meticulously handwoven according to the ancient Persian tradition, of which the brand jealously protects the secrets.
The protagonist of the exhibition space is the 'Inganni Spaziali' (which means literally Spatial Cheat in English) collection, designed by Armando Milani, a renowned voice in the International graphic design scene. The project stems from Tapis Rouge's desire to transform images into three-dimensional works, meticulously overseeing the development of the production process. The transformation of a design from a small-scale model to a larger one, such as a rug, amplifies a fundamental concept in Armando Milani's philosophy, which aligns well with Tapis Rouge's ethos – the idea that a photographed form can lose its boundaries, expressing a design that can open up broader and hidden worlds, hence the name of the collection—an evocative journey through different spatial dimensions and intriguing visual illusions and games.
The four carpets composing the collection are large-scale transpositions of analogue artworks from the 1960s and '70s, paying homage to the aesthetics of an era characterised by expressive freedom, the courage of experimentation, and a spontaneous and playful approach to using various expressive mediums to develop ideas and find inspiration: from photographs of paper sculptures emerged borderless images, sources of inspiration for graphic images that Milani developed for well-known consumer goods brands, magazines, institutions, and ethical posters.
'Inganni Spaziali is a collection inspired by the masters of the Bauhaus and my favourite Milanese designers of that time, Franco Grignani, AG Fronzoni, and minimalist artists like Lucio Fontana and Enrico Castellani. I have always been fascinated by the three-dimensionality and the extreme visual rigour of their works, achieved through the skilled use of photos and typography. I am happy that Tapis Rouge has proposed to reproduce these designs because it allowed me to relive the spirit of an era,' says designer Armando Milani.
To achieve the three-dimensional appearance of volumes and light and shadow gradients on the irregular, flat, and textured surface, the Tapis Rouge's design team used compositions of wool and silk to create the carpet weave, varying in texture and concentration. The warm palette and the homogeneous height of the fibres and natural material used evoke the surface of cotton paper, providing a soft and tactile sensation.
More information:
Tapis Rouge
www.ateliertapisrouge.com