Skip to main content
Read page text
page 32
30 Insight: News SUMMER 2024 30 Insight: News SUMMER 2024 01 DESIGNEAST The recent exhibition ‘(Un)common Threads’ during London Craft Week in May focused on rugs and textiles. It was organised by design platform DESIGNEAST. Lucy Upward reports 01 Kimono, Experimental Topography 02 Rug by Atelier Talasin 03 Weaving by Christin Amann 04 A detail of I Had Other Plans, Nayla Al-Mulla 05 Rug by Maryam Al Homaid x Jaipur Rugs Back in 2023, London-born creative Rue Kothari, former director of Downtown Design in Dubai, saw a chance for the creation of a new platform to represent makers from the Global South. DESIGNEAST launched in March 2023 in Dubai as part of the city's art week with a textile art show titled ‘(Un)common Threads’. The next version of the show was at NOMAD Capri in July 2023. Then, in May of this year, a rendition of this textile-focused exhibition was shown at the Bargehouse Oxo Tower Wharf as part of Future Icons Selects during London Craft Week. In each version, ‘(Un)common Threads’ looks at cultural identity, heritage and environment influences on the textile narratives of creatives who are based or work with artisans from the Global South. The works showing in London were from di erent projects that DESIGNEAST is involved in. For one collaboration with Jaipur Rugs organised by Kothari, five artists from the Middle East were paired with five weavers from Jaipur to make some creative rug and textile designs. The designs were on show in Dubai in early 2024 and three of pieces in London came from this collaboration, designs by Maryam Al Homaid, Adrian Pepe and Rejo Studio. In addition there was Nayla Al-Mulla’s fantastic I Had Other Plans, a giant machine embroidery on cotton, which was created as a response to the Covid pandemic. The result is like a visual diary, full of humour. Experimental Topography’s Kimono was made of upcycled 04 burlap, in response to the fact that 92 million tonnes of textile waste are created each year. Also showing in London were beautiful henna-dyed rugs by Atelier Talasin (see COVER 72), an ethical rug band working in Morocco; organic cotton and wool weavings by German designer Christin Amann, inspired by Nepalese weavers; and Nadia-Anne Ricketts’s BeatWoven textiles that interpret sound spectrums. If you are interested in textiles, keep an eye out for DESIGNEAST. Kothari gives voice to often-overlooked artisans and quiet indigenous makers. thedesigneast.com 02 03 05
page 33
I S SUE 75 Insight: News 31 XTANT 2024 XTANT Roots 2024 just finished its fif th edition in Palma de Mallorca. Thus the heritage textile event consolidated its positioning as a must destination for designers, architects and enthusiasts who see Palma as the textile destination. Renowned visitors included Ilse Crawford, Li Edelkoort and Suzanne Sugg, among many others. XTANT’s mission is to elevate crafts to the level of art, to promote the collecting of heritage textiles and crafts, and to create a community based on sharing and learning, and on supporting and uplifting artists. XTANT’s gallery market took place in Palau Can Vivot, a unique residential palace in Palma with P a z l a d e L o p e z P h o t o: L e y r e 01  Rug by Atelier Talasin 02, 03  Scenes from XTANT 04  Broom maker Alyssa Blackwell 02 01 03 P a z l a d e L o p e z P h o t o: L e y r e i C a s s P h o t o: E m m a 04 a heritage traceable back to the 14th century. With the theme of ‘Roots’ enshrined in the event title, Carlos Fontales and Pep Toni Ferrer created site-specific installations. Eighty artists and artisans from thir ty-two countries presented their work, which included nuno silk by Laurine Malengreau, vintage linen from Galicia represented by AO Domini, Uzbeki ikats, a handmade fabric shop and the presence of well-established designers such as RaasLeela, Jaardin Azul, Lørdag & Søndag, A New Cross, and Ka-Sha, among many others. Celebrity Mexican artisan Remigio Mestas brought museum pieces using the three sacred dye colours of Mexico—murex, indigo and cochineal—while Zulema Gutiérrez brought a collection of vicuña pieces from Argentina. Award-winning weaver Shamji Vankar Vishram Valji, from Kutch, Gujarat, debuted as an artist with pieces created specially around the theme of roots. XTANT is about the past becoming present, about looking back to move forward, about valuing our heritage and everything that makes us human. As pointed out by founders Kavita Parmar and Marcella Echavarría: ‘roots are the common threads that unite us, and society needs to feel connected now more than ever.’ www.xtant.io

Page Text

View plaintext

30 Insight: News SUMMER 2024 30 Insight: News SUMMER 2024

01

DESIGNEAST The recent exhibition ‘(Un)common Threads’ during London Craft Week in May focused on rugs and textiles. It was organised by design platform DESIGNEAST. Lucy Upward reports

01 Kimono, Experimental Topography 02 Rug by Atelier Talasin 03 Weaving by Christin Amann 04 A detail of I Had Other Plans, Nayla Al-Mulla 05 Rug by Maryam Al Homaid x Jaipur Rugs

Back in 2023, London-born creative Rue Kothari, former director of Downtown Design in Dubai, saw a chance for the creation of a new platform to represent makers from the Global South. DESIGNEAST launched in March 2023 in Dubai as part of the city's art week with a textile art show titled ‘(Un)common Threads’. The next version of the show was at NOMAD Capri in July 2023. Then, in May of this year, a rendition of this textile-focused exhibition was shown at the Bargehouse Oxo Tower Wharf as part of Future Icons Selects during London Craft Week.

In each version, ‘(Un)common Threads’ looks at cultural identity, heritage and environment influences on the textile narratives of creatives who are based or work with artisans from the Global South. The works showing in London were from di erent projects that DESIGNEAST is involved in. For one collaboration with Jaipur Rugs organised by Kothari, five artists from the Middle East were paired with five weavers from Jaipur to make some creative rug and textile designs. The designs were on show in Dubai in early 2024 and three of pieces in London came from this collaboration, designs by Maryam Al Homaid, Adrian Pepe and Rejo Studio.

In addition there was Nayla Al-Mulla’s fantastic I Had Other Plans, a giant machine embroidery on cotton, which was created as a response to the Covid pandemic. The result is like a visual diary, full of humour. Experimental Topography’s Kimono was made of upcycled

04

burlap, in response to the fact that 92 million tonnes of textile waste are created each year.

Also showing in London were beautiful henna-dyed rugs by Atelier Talasin (see COVER 72), an ethical rug band working in Morocco; organic cotton and wool weavings by German designer Christin Amann, inspired by Nepalese weavers; and Nadia-Anne Ricketts’s BeatWoven textiles that interpret sound spectrums.

If you are interested in textiles, keep an eye out for DESIGNEAST. Kothari gives voice to often-overlooked artisans and quiet indigenous makers. thedesigneast.com

02

03

05

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content