Sara Badr Schmidt’s rugs as artworks

‘I’m not doing rugs to decorate. I consider my rugs to be artworks. The materials and technique serve the concept’

Conceptual artist Sara Badr Schmidt describes how her Swedish and Lebanese heritage inspired her to make rugs stating, ‘In both my countries rugs are important for different reasons due to culture and climate.’ Her grandfather in Beirut had a silk factory and, in the winter, used silk rugs on walls and seating. In Sweden, wool rugs are used year-round. With a background in typography and graphic design, her quest for clear lettering in woven form led to Nepal, where she became enamoured with the weaving process and started taking rug commissions for Parisian art collectors. ‘I’m not doing rugs to decorate,’ she says, ‘I consider my rugs to be artworks. The materials and technique serve the concept.’ Colorshot is inspired by an Italian Trecento painting combined with the characteristics of stained glass—the abstract art of that time. The scale-like sections are made of various materials including cashmere, wool and silk. The dividing lines are linen. ‘Artistic life is solitary, making rugs is interactive. I have to stick to certain constraints, but I use them as a way to boost my creativity,’ she explains.