The pandemic has taught us in recent months to give space a new face. The limitation of movements made us rediscover the physicality of space, which we have learned to measure challenged on the test bench of social distancing. In the last few weeks how many times have we felt the need to isolate ourselves within our habitats, perhaps sharing with boyfriends, children, parents, roommates? How many times have we lived together in the same environment and dedicated ourselves to different activities? And how many times have we found ourselves on the mat to train or on the living room rug to meditate?
The carpet has become for many people a room, a place to cross, to isolate oneself, to hide. After all, over fifty years ago, in “The order of things”, Michel Foucault theorized it by coining the term “heterotopia” to indicate those real places, found in every culture of all times, structured as defined spaces, but “absolutely different” from all other social spaces. If for Foucault utopias are fundamentally unreal and consoling spaces, heterotopias identify themselves in really existing but heterogeneous and sometimes disturbing places: localized utopias that creep into the continuity of physical space creating a substantial discontinuity and defining an illusory space. For Foucault the archetype of heterotopia was the Persian garden, reproduced on oriental carpets.
This perspective contributed to changing the perception of contemporary carpets from a decorative accessory to an essential component of interior design. In this photo gallery we propose 10 carpets that combine artisan techniques and manual processing and look at the sustainability of the fibres used from linen to silk, to polypropylene for outdoor use.