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138 SUMMER 2024 THE WARP OF TIME Where to go for summer? Perhaps the Greek island of Hydra, where an exhibition of rugs and textiles is taking place. Denna Jones takes a look Old Carpet Factory is the intentionally prosaic name of an extraordinary 18th-century mansion located on a hill overlooking the harbour of the Greek island of Hydra. Once home to the Soutzoglou carpet-weaving factory, the mansion was repurposed as a recording studio and art residency. ‘The Warp of Time’ is the Factory’s summer 2024 exhibition. The exhibition is curated by residency founder and director Ekaterina Juskowski, and produced by Old Carpet Factory, Art Rug Projects by Soutzoglou, and Mnemosyne Projects. The billing offers ‘a nuanced exploration of the relationship between place and memory’. The theme tackles the often frustrating reality that ‘memory lacks linearity and includes the act of forgetting’. The show includes antique pieces from the Soutzoglou collection woven in the mansion to newly commissioned weaves. Juskowski’s coup was securing the participation of US artist Helen Marden, who from 1971 shared home studios on Hydra with her late husband, Brice Marden. 01 02 Inspired by her memories of Hydra, Marden’s watercolours were translated into weave by Soutzoglou’s expert artisans. Woven ‘loomabacuses’ by Dimitrios Antonitsis (the exhibition’s curatorial advisor along with Electra Soutzoglou) veer between drawings, sculptures, and artefacts. The dialogue between the works enriches the show’s intersection of art, memory, and heritage. www.oldcarpetfactory.com 03 01  Weaving by Dimitrios Antonitsis 02  ‘The Warp of Time’ featuring Summer rug by Helen Marden 03  ‘The Warp of Time’ featuring Lines rug by Helen Marden i n e r p h o t o s: S a r a h R a l l A
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I S SUE 75 Online Retail 139 ONLINE RETAIL REPORT E-commerce has reinvented itself multiple times in the past thirty years, but sellers still find themselves in an ever-changing world. Denna Jones suggests that hybrid ways of selling are the future 02 01 Jürgen Dahlmanns, founder of Rug Star, recalls how ‘digital inquiries for rugs from global projects and private consumers surged’ when the Covid pandemic halted in-person fairs. This rapid realignment between online and IRL cemented the superpower of digital engagement for Dahlmanns and others in the rug industry. They quickly boosted their digital assets (people, processes, products, and organisational culture) and increased their IT transformation (digitisation and delivery of information). Strategic reprioritisation ‘increased our profits and order capacity with reduced expenses, but also fostered commercial maturity, granting us greater creative freedom and innovation in product development’, says Dahlmanns. Now, in 2024, several years post-pandemic, online shopping is entering a new phase. The most successful rug companies are enhancing or creating collaboration between ‘clicks’ and ‘mortar’. Online success can be expressed as: Expertise + Experiential = Epic + Enduring. Examples of epic and enduring rug companies include Rug Star, Jaipur Rugs and Beni Rugs. They understand that the ‘formula’ represents the minimum values for a sustainable and successful online rug business, while the key to future success is ‘experiential’. Jaipur Rugs’ ‘try in your room’ online augmented reality tool is an experiential feature that encourages customers to upload a photo of their room or select from standard room options. They then drag and drop any rug from Jaipur’s collections into the room. Rugs can be rotated to get a good approximation of pattern scale and what the rug will look like at home. But epic websites need allies. In 2024 the post-pandemic consumer wants online sites with proven authentic expertise, commitment to nature, and people allied to IRL ( in real life) shopping experiences. It’s no longer either/ or: the future is online and IRL. Few things underscore postpandemic change more than people’s increased willingness to spend large sums for a rug they’ve only viewed online. I ask Dahlmanns whether his customers have an online price ceiling above which they visit Rug Star to touch before they buy. He says: ‘Initially I believed that digital inquiries would cater mainly to the “entry to luxury” segment, around $3,000–$5,000. However, we’ve discovered there’s no ceiling. By cultivating a strong “digital identity” and building deep trust with our audience, we’ve found that price is no barrier. Customers can now experience the same level of connection digitally as 01  The Rug Star website which upgraded in 2021

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138 SUMMER 2024

THE WARP OF TIME

Where to go for summer? Perhaps the Greek island of Hydra, where an exhibition of rugs and textiles is taking place. Denna Jones takes a look

Old Carpet Factory is the intentionally prosaic name of an extraordinary 18th-century mansion located on a hill overlooking the harbour of the Greek island of Hydra. Once home to the Soutzoglou carpet-weaving factory, the mansion was repurposed as a recording studio and art residency. ‘The Warp of Time’ is the Factory’s summer 2024 exhibition.

The exhibition is curated by residency founder and director Ekaterina Juskowski, and produced by Old Carpet Factory, Art Rug Projects by Soutzoglou, and Mnemosyne Projects. The billing offers ‘a nuanced exploration of the relationship between place and memory’. The theme tackles the often frustrating reality that ‘memory lacks linearity and includes the act of forgetting’. The show includes antique pieces from the Soutzoglou collection woven in the mansion to newly commissioned weaves. Juskowski’s coup was securing the participation of US artist Helen Marden, who from 1971 shared home studios on Hydra with her late husband, Brice Marden.

01

02

Inspired by her memories of Hydra, Marden’s watercolours were translated into weave by Soutzoglou’s expert artisans. Woven ‘loomabacuses’ by Dimitrios Antonitsis (the exhibition’s curatorial advisor along with Electra Soutzoglou) veer between drawings, sculptures, and artefacts. The dialogue between the works enriches the show’s intersection of art, memory, and heritage. www.oldcarpetfactory.com

03

01  Weaving by Dimitrios Antonitsis 02  ‘The Warp of Time’ featuring Summer rug by Helen Marden 03  ‘The Warp of Time’ featuring Lines rug by Helen Marden i n e r p h o t o s: S a r a h R a l l

A

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