Bonfires 3

Bonfires 3 is a rectangular wool rug.‎Zollanvari Fine Gabbehs.‎This design combines two motifs from Persian tribal iconography: that of rhombus (made of two triangles – the symbol of a woman in tribal weavings of the Zagros Mountains of Iran) and the boteh (according to some scholars a convergence of a stylised floral spray and a cypress tree: a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity, and according to others, representing a mother with child).‎ Here, the designers have distorted the motifs to create the glitch effect, adding a flame-like sense of movement, which adds yet another Zoroastrian reference… the bonfires of the Persian Festival of Fire (Chaharshanbe Suri) held on the last Wednesday of the Iranian year and marking the arrival of spring.‎ Fire and light… the hope for health and happiness for the coming year.‎The inspiration for this latest collection is an ingenious fusion of traditional Gabbeh iconography and Glitch art – a visual style characterised by using digital or analogue errors for aesthetic purposes, whether that be intentional (that is, “faking glitch” and obtaining a similar aesthetic through design) or by accident (a true manifestation inside of the system without human intervention).‎ The term “glitch” itself originates with engineers and astronauts to explain faults within the technology they were working with.‎ But the visual aesthetic can be traced much further back, to the beginning of the 20th century through distorted forms in cubist paintings, abstract short films and pixel-like rug designs akin to 8-bit video game landscapes.‎ In fact, many antique rugs feature abstract, distorted patterns that seem to predict the glitch movement of later centuries.‎ This new collection, including its marketing and sales, will set off a new Gabbeh revolution.‎ The designs are available in custom and bespoke sizes and colours.‎