Carpet Design Awards 2020 Shortlist

The shortlist for the 15th Carpet Design Awards has been released. Here we reveal a selection of the entries that will be compete at Domotex Hannover in January 2020.

The 15th edition of the Carpet Design Awards—presented in partnership with COVER and HALI magazines—will take place at Domotex in January. The awards honour the best in contemporary carpet design, with a focus on innovation, execution and sustainability, and the competition is fierce. From the hundreds that enter, a shortlist of five has been compiled for each category. Graham Head chairs the jury, which also numbers artist and curator Nuala Goodman, designer Roos Soetekouw, interior designer and lifestyle blogger Martyn White and Stefan Amstad, rug buyer for furniture retailer Möbel Pfister AG.

Categories 1 Best Studio Artist Design and 8 Best Modern Design Select, which is new for this year, work slightly differently as they are open to Domotex non-exhibitors and by invitation only. The shortlists for these two categories contain only three entries. 

The shortlisted carpets will arrive at Domotex, where three finalists will be selected in each category. The finalists will be given pride of place in the new dedicated presentation area in Hall 3 throughout the duration of the fair. The 2020 Carpet Design Awards winners will be announced at on 11 January during a special awards ceremony beginning at 6.00pm.

Category 01: Best Studio Artist Design

The Inverted Reality – Borderline Studio

Isometric drawings of mega cities inspired this rug in which the two-dimensional becomes three-dimensional through an ingenious use of facets and perspective. Various looping and piling techniques enliven the surface and create a visual play with volume.

Giovanni – Designed by John Booth for Floor Story

Based on an original ceramic, this rug brings the artist’s unmistakable style and sense of joy to life through painterly colour layups, fill scribbles and graphic lines. The bold, cartoonish look is enhanced by the unconventional and carefully delineated shape.

Indigo Flow – Michelle Mohr

Created in a technique inspired by macramé, this carpet can be viewed from both sides. The front and back showcase two different structures, allowing for two looks in one rug. The yarn is key to the design and is manufactured in a special way that is resource saving.

Category 02: Best Modern Design Superior

Elbrus – Art Palace

This design in wool and silk is inspired by a three-dimensional rock pattern, which has been flattened into an intriguing faceted image with an effect not unlike broken glass. The Tibetan wool used for this carpet is hand-carded and hand-spun, and vegetable dyeing technology is to thank for the multitude of subtle grey tones.

Shibuya – Choudhary Exports

Shibuya is an interpretation of the bustling neighbourhood in Tokyo of the same name. The vibrant splashes of colour capture the neon lights as well as the uplifting qualities of the Japanese capital, which are sure to be transferred to whichever space the carpet is placed. Hand-shearing lends beautiful depth to the rug.

Stairmaze – Designed by Matteo Cibic for Jaipur Rugs

This rug reflects the beauty of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Jaipur, particularly the intricate designs gracing the subterranean architecture of the city’s step-wells. Differing pile heights accentuate the delicate tracery of the ornamentation, giving the floor covering a beautiful sense of depth.

Dark Moon – Kirkit Rugs

Inspired by the moon and moonlight, this rug is designed by a winner of the prestigious Istanbul Young Designers’ Contest. The manufacturing process upcycles used textiles; old hemp flatweaves and goat hair nomadic tents are unravelled and the fibres treated and reused to produce this elegant and eco-friendly carpet.

Full Moon – Kirkit Rugs

This monochrome rug harnessing the magic of the full moon is designed by a winner of the prestigious Istanbul Young Designers’ Contest. The manufacturing process upcycles used textiles; old hemp flatweaves and goat hair nomadic tents are unravelled and the fibres treated and reused to produce this sophisticated and eco-friendly carpet.

Category 03: Best Modern Design Deluxe

Strati – Jaipur Rugs

Haphazard elements settle side by side to form a coherent story in this rug. Strati belongs to the Aakar collection; Aakar means shape in Hindi and encapsulates the idea of putting various forms in distinctive colours together to construct a rug where the sum is greater than its parts.

EasyMe No. 01, Original – Designed by Michael Howells for Rug Star

EasyMe No. 01 is the result of a collaboration with a Portland-based architect and artist and demonstrates his understanding of how painterly imagery can guide movement in an interior. The title of the rug belies the work that has gone into the design—you can only break the rules when you have mastered them.

The Diamond – Theo Keller

Shaped like a diamond, this rug is jewellery for the floor. Tibetan wool and pure silk give The Diamond the lustre one would expect, and the fine knotting brings out the intricacies of the design. The wool and silk are dyed in small batches according to a time-honoured method

Skydance – Wool & Silk

This dynamic design is an interpretation of a photograph of the sky taken at a very slow shutter speed. Made with hand spun wool and silk, the subtle sheen achieved adds another dimension to draws you into the vortex-like composition that appears like a limitless galaxy.

Fusion – Wool & Silk

When one looks closer, one discovers that this seemingly consistent design is in fact alive with irregularity. Lines of different thicknesses break up the grid, and areas of shading and pops of colour are also added to the mix. A special dye process is used to generate a variety of hues from a single colour.

Category 04: Best Transitional Design

Shehnameh – Lila Valadan

This unique wool and silk one-of-a-kind artwork perfectly fuses the design of classical Tabriz rugs and an artistic interpretation of Rostam’s Seven Labours from the epic 12th century poem Shahnameh. This piece features 100% organic wool and silk and 100% natural dyes to create a rug at one with nature.

NewTribal No. 09, Original – Rug Star

At first glance, NewTribal No. 09, Original may appear to be a wholly traditional rug, but soon asymmetrical and quirky elements manifest themselves. The mix of 80% natural dyes and 20% chrome dyes gives the rug a playful character, with bright petals standing out from the rich wine-coloured ground.

Mir New Chapter – Theo Keller

Mir New Chapter breathes new life into the classic Persian Mir-e-Boteh field design through an exciting new and hyper contemporary colourway. A special structure featuring embossing makes the colours pop in this rug hand-knotted in bamboo silk.

Holi – Wool & Silk

This rug represents a marriage of old and new. The composition draws on the beauty of Ottoman silk kaftans—their sumptuousness and sheer elegance. The updated palette combines vibrant and sombre tones and subtle design interventions make for a variegated surface that seduces the eye.

Wild Pomegranate – Wool & Silk

Soothing without being plain, this rug’s pattern can be traced back to vintage textiles. Hand-dyed and hand-spun Ghazni wool from local sheep heighten the delicate gradations present in the design, which is hand-knotted in Afghanistan.

Category 05: Best Flatweave Design

Pranavi – Art India

Energetic colours bridge the widening gap between our real surroundings and the virtual world in this design. The multi-textural quality and hand-beaten finish elevates the rug’s tactility and encourages the appreciation and conservation of nature.

Purple Abrash – Kirkit Rugs

Inspired by the galaxy and the night sky and designed by a winner of the prestigious Istanbul Young Designers’ Contest, this kilim plays with variegated shades obtained via the abrash technique achieved during the dyeing process.

Sixth Sense – Lila Valadan

Almost forgotten weaving techniques have been reinterpreted from old artefacts. Man’s soul searching begins with the realisation that the world is an illusion created by the five senses and beyond is a subconscious level of awareness.

Eye Dazzler Baneh – Zollanvari

Uniting the artistic creativity of tribal people from two continents, the brilliance of Saltillo serapes woven by the Navajo in northern Mexico is reinterpreted by weavers in the Fars region of south-central Iran. The rug is woven in four strips from naturally-dyed highland wool from the Zagros Mountains.

After Navajo via Bauhaus Baneh – Zollanvari

Resonating multiculturalism, this kilim looks west to Navajo weaving from the Four Corners region of the USA. It is heavily influenced by the work of Josef Albers and the Bauhaus movement, while the design details are from Persian Ghashgha’i traditions.

Category 06: Best Collection

Jaipur Wunderkammer Collection – Designed by Matteo Cibic for Jaipur Rugs

An Italian designer has been inspired by the UNESCO World Heritage site of Jaipur, Rajasthan to create a graphic collection that represents a phantasmagorical vision of India and highlights the mystifying charm of the Pink City.

Moon Collection – Kirkit Rugs

Inspired by the moon and its light, this collection is designed by a winner of the prestigious Istanbul Young Designers’ Contest. It upcycles old hemp flatweaves and nomads’ tents made of goat hair. Their fibres are unravelled, treated and rewoven.

EasyMe Collection – Designed by Michael Howells for Rug Star

A collaboration with Michael Howells, this is an outstanding debut rug collection with the Portland-based artist whose contemporary patterns work so well in interiors. The collection is woven using Persian knots in sandblast wool, or wool and silk.

Rhythm Collection – Wool & Silk

The artist’s love of music inspired this collection in which he created the mood of different genres using colour, form and movement. As a trained classical guitarist, his understanding of rhythm and tempo has been translated into designs that evoke the joyous urge to dance.

Gashgha’i meets Bauhaus Collection – Designed by SoFarSoNear for Zollanvari

Analogies can be drawn between this collection’s geometric abstract patterns in vivid, naturally-dyed Gashgha’i colours and the Bauhaus movement, particularly the work of Josef Albers. It is an investigation into human perception of colour, the most fascinating of art’s formal elements.

Category 07: Best Interior

Mount Fuji on Explosion – Luz Mendez

Inspired by Fuji-san, this rug recalls Japan’s tallest peak—an active volcano and one of the country’s three sacred mountains. It adorns the floor of the Japanese Residence on the other side of the globe in Santiago de Chile.

Home Dana – Rug Star

Rugs from India and Afghanistan are displayed in a newly renovated 1970s apartment with low ceilings on the 36th floor in Millennium Park, Downtown Chicago. The designer was aiming for ‘emancipated eclecticism’ which is echoed in the rug selection.

Florence – Wool & Silk

The conflicting and complimentary patterns revealed in the peeling layers of a vintage wall have inspired this ethereal design which harmonises cool and warm tones, contemporary and traditional elements, and marries the Art Deco and Classical elements of the furnishing theme.

Category 08: Best Modern Design Select

Feathers Round – Designed by Maarten De Ceulaer for cc-tapis

The designer’s long-held affinity with birds—and historic illustrations by the renowned ornithologists John James Audubon and John Gould—have informed the design of this rug. A varying pile height adds a sense of depth and emphasises the shape of individual feathers.

Plumes – Deirdre Dyson

This delicate, detailed design is inspired by the form of the pinions or flight feathers at the periphery of a bird’s wing. The dark navy ground is punctuated with flashes of turquoise and beige silk and the fine lines are accentuated by a dense knot count and low pile height.

Fresco – Knots Rugs in collaboration with The Sir John Soane Museum and Blackpop

Part of a collection entitled Your Floor is the Canvas, this rug uses 44 colours and is the result of a collaboration between a design company and a museum. Layer upon layer of imagery adapted from the museum archives mix Gothic, Classical and Pop aesthetics to unique effect.