Robin Gray’s Celestial Mirror Collection launches at ICFF, New York

Ancestors

Nowhere is designer Robin Gray’s penchant for Ancient China clearer than in her most recent rug collection, Celestial Mirror. Simultaneously bold and muted, the collection beautifully reflects themes of immortality and the enduring influence of ancestors.

Gray’s sixteenth collection, Celestial Mirror launches at the New York gallery for ALT FOR LIVING during the Annual ICFF party on May, 20 2013 with six rugs that are among the most striking transitional designs she has produced. Each piece features one dramatic image from the Celestial Empire and mirrors the image to fill the field. The idea of the infinite reflection of mirror signifies the eternal nature of the images themselves.

Says Gray of the collection, “I’ve always had a fascination with the romantic and aesthetic aspects of Asian cultures, and I think that’s evident in the Celestial Mirror collection. When my mother passed away recently, I was even more inspired to explore the ideas of ancestry and eternal life that Chinese culture so embraces and honors.”

The collection’s anchor piece, entitled “Ancestors,” is a faded sketch of an historical ancestor painting—a traditional Chinese portrait commissioned after a family member has died. Ancestor paintings symbolise the continuing life and influence of the ancestors.