Gesture collection is inspired by the art of New York action painters from the 1950s, according to which gesture on canvas was a gesture of liberation. A new language of expression, one of drips and slashes, violence and gravity. It was a different way of seeing art, less concerned with form and composition, more so act of making itself.
Five designers — Patricia Urquiola, Sabine Marcelis, Philippe Malouin, Yuri Himuro and Mae Engelgeer – meditate on gesture’s meaning and investigate how the simple movement of hands and tools can lead their creative process. The results range from delicate gradients inspired by brushstrokes to the imperfect assemblage of spontaneous collages and the simple act of cutting into woven cloth.
In response to the designers’ creativity, cc-tapis, led by art director Daniele Lora, have developed new techniques that bring these gestures to life. Ways of shaping and dying wool, previously unexplored methods of weaving and the introduction of novel materials within the hand-knotted rugs — capturing in wool, linen and silk the artists’ inimitable gesture.
A captivating composition of color and pattern comes alive in Patricia Urquiola’s latest collection, Patcha. Utilizing the patch-work spontaneity of mixedmedia collage, Urquiola expresses the gesture of overlapping and assembles strips of mint green, lavender, taupe, burgundy and speckled technicolor fields. Layering one atop another to create inventive graphic compositions. A myriad of textures, pile heights and colors meet in each rug, utilizing sustainable dyeing techniques which use less water and novel materials like castoff silk from Indian Sari production.
Sabine Marcelis, known for her masterful manipulation of color and shade, debuts with Stroke collection. Marcelis considers the expressive potential of everyday life. “The house is like a canvas and we are constantly creating drawings and marks and traces with our daily gestures. Strokes, wipes, brushes, streaks; surfaces become a temporary canvas. The rugs I designed for cc-tapis capture two of those gestures in a permanent state,” she says of her creative process, which also took cues from Lichtenstein’s pop-art brushstroke paintings and the colorful fields of Pablo Tomek’s spontaneous movements, harnessing the totality of the gesture within each design. Each rug features a gradient of color saturation and pile height, mirroring the three-dimensionality and irregular pigment of a stroke of paint.
Philippe Malouin’s first collection for cc-tapis, Lines, explores gesture in its most naive form: the seemingly simple mark of a crayon. Inspired by the irregular lines and soft, uneven tones left by a crayon skidding across a sheet of paper, cc-tapis has translated Malouin’s concept with customary material sophistication. The special Tibetan craftsmanship was combined with a clever “dip-dying” technique for coloring the Himalayan wool. The combination of which achieved the same imprecise feeling of Malouin’s original drawings.
“Cutting becomes a process of creation instead of destruction,” explains textile designer Yuri Himuro of the inspiration behind her collection, Cultivate. Based on her innovative textile project Snip Snap — a jacquard pattern whose design only becomes apparent when the woven threads are snipped, revealing a double structure within the textile — Himuro explores the creative potential found in the act of cutting.
To create the rugs, cc-tapis translated Himuro’s novel jacquard weaving technique into an Indian flatweave. The nature of the design renders the rug infinitely customizable, allowing each owner to embrace the gesture of cutting, revealing colorful flatweave beneath the first layer of woolen threads.
“The texture of each rug must be individually cultivated,” Himuro describes of her intention. The opportunity to personalize each rug, she believes, will bring joy to people and create a sense of emotional attachment towards their belongings.
“The texture of each rug must be individually cultivated,” Himuro describes of her intention. The opportunity to personalize each rug, she believes, will bring joy to people and create a sense of emotional attachment towards their belongings.
Mae Engelgeer’s Mindscape collection investigates gesture in the digital realm, exploring spatial and architectural gestures. Engelgeer creates patterns from complex compositions, mirroring, splicing and replicating to achieve her otherworldly designs, taking the viewer on a journey to another space.
“With the echo of Bliss in mind I wanted to underline my signature of creating poetic and atmospheric designs into a new series of rugs, taking the aesthetics to another level,” she describes of her inspiration. In Mindscape, Engelgeer ventures into an alternate universe, revealing a scenography of extraordinary pastel color combinations.
