Persian Carpets

Recently visited a carpet store in Singapore named Mortazavy to learn about the art of Persian carpets. I personally have grown an appreciation for the craft, being amazed at the scale, intricacy, colours, patterns and feel of the carpets. Persian carpets do not receive the attention nor appreciation it deserves as an art form. The only downside is that to fully appreciate the carpets, it is best to see them in person because feeling them is a large part of the experience. 

What determines the price and quality of the carpets are from what I gathered

• the material its woven from
• how many knots per square inch it has
• the region its made from
• who the master weaver the was
• how old the carpet is 
• what type of carpet it is 

Persian carpets are made from 3 main fabrics, cotton, wool and silk. Silk being the most expensive and most luxurious. That being said a carpet made entirely from silk does not necessarily mean it is automatically a better than wool. 

100% silk

It comes down to personal preference and how the carpet sits in your home which is an important factor. People who know about carpets do not make the association as well. 

Some carpets can have a mixture of both wool and silk which creates a matte and shiny finish. Wool being the matte and silk acting as the shine. Cotton is hardly used as the main fabric in more expensive carpets but rather as the base of which the wool is woven into. 

Knots per square inch refers to how detailed the weaving is on the carpet. The higher the knots per square inch, the more detailed and higher quality the carpet is. 

Master weavers are the title given to the artists of the carpets. Despite the title suggests, the carpets are not necessarily weaved by them, the master weavers do create the design and colourings which then are given to the actual weavers to weave. As a result some Master Weavers are known for their design but more importantly colour and knots per inch. The designs can be copied however the dye of the wool and or silk is crucial in determining the authenticity of the carpet made by that weaver. Master weavers have their own secrets in determining the specific technique in creating their dyes which produce such rich colours. 

Being what carpets are, they are made to be stepped on and used. Despite their intricate artwork, they are not meant to be hanged. The more used the carpets are, the better they look and ultimately increase its value. Even the natural oils from the feet help 'age' the carpet and the longer they age the better the carpet becomes. In the shop I visited the average age of the carpets were 70-80 years old. This does not mean however that carpets from a certain time period require a certain price point unlike fine art. It comes down to how you perceive the carpet to be, which is entirely how one should buy a Persian rug.

Persian carpets are kept in homes, away from public gaze like clothes. Therefore the buyer should refrain from seeking other peoples opinion. Furthermore the process of buying the carpet is not simply choosing which one is the buyer likes in the shop. The carpets have to be brought to the owners home in multiple consultations as lighting, furniture and size of the carpet all play a role in determining whether the carpet is right for their home. The relationship between the client and merchant is also important. 

Lighting plays a key role in how you appreciate the carpet. In direct light, the colours of the weaving take on a light shade, whilst in indirect light, the colours appear darker but richer. Having uneven lighting as shown in the picture above will give the owner the entirety of the carpets perceived tonal range. Also where you stand determines the colour of the carpet. The way in which the material is woven determines the direction of which the fibres naturally rest. This can be explained through simply stroking the carpet. The smoother stroke is the side which produces the lighter tones and vice versa. Red are a common colour for carpets as is warm and inviting, however being that it is common some people prefer other colours to help stand out. 

For example this carpet comes from the Nain region, which is known to use more beige colours, greens and blues. The flowers here are often one you see in Persian gardens and the deer for example represents love. There is also a difference to in pattern to where the carpet was made. In cities, the carpets are often more elaborate and intricate in design where as in rural areas, the carpets have a simpler, more geometric design. 

This is a section that happens to be a representation of the oldest carpet in existence. The Pazyryk carpet was excavated in 1949 from the grave of a Scythian nobleman in the Pazyryk Valley of the Altai Mountains in Siberia. Radiocarbon testing indicated that the Pazyryk carpet was woven in the 5th century BC. This representation best demonstrates the effect of combing wool and silk as explained earlier. 

As a whole, Persian carpets are a far cry from graphic design but they represent what most designers emphasise during their talks. To have a multitude of different inspirations that may or may not become an influence to your work. The level of depth that goes into appreciating the carpets and the little subtleties that make the carpet can be transferred into creating graphic design work. To have more depth and consideration for the smaller design decisions that may go unnoticed but work together to create the bigger idea. 

Singapore Biennale 2016 - An Atlas of Mirrors

What I took away from visiting just one area (the Singapore Art Museum) of the Singapore Biennale was the benefit of having conceptual ideas. 

In Chou Shih Hsiang's Good Boy, Bad Boy, Chou's art piece is made up of recycled engine oil in between two frames of perspex that forms a "painting". The petroleum stays in a liquid form and will never solidify, as a oil painting does. It formalises the relationship between himself, his family and the materiality of petroleum, and also considers the relationship of petroleum in the age in which we live. 

The concept of using the petroleum as a medium to replicate a painting is most unique. It is this kind of 'out of the box' thinking that can be applied to areas in graphic design. It makes for more creative design that will encourage the viewer to think and create an engagement between the two be it physical or mental. Conceptual thinking can definitely be applied to areas such as way finding. What ways could the designer tell the user to navigate the area that incorporates the buildings architecture for example or in areas such as user experience where new technologies such as VR could open up a multitude of creative ways the designer can communicate to the user. Having more conceptual ideas will help push the definition of what graphic design can be. 

Front Cover

Map of artists nationality

Map of the museums showing the Biennale's artwork 

It was also worth noting the branding used for the Singapore Biennale. Using Gotham as the official typeface gave the Biennale had a contemporary identity that not only aligns itself with the current trends in typography today, i.e a rounded sans serif, but would make it appeal to a younger demographic as well. This would hopefully get the younger generation of Singapore more interested in Art. The booklet received upon entry supplied the reader with a map of the where the artists come from, maps of where the artwork is displayed and other key information such as visitor & venue information and the overall descriptions of each artist. 

Visitor information

Artist descriptions

Titles of galleries

This will be beneficial in understanding the information needed to provide a visitor when designing for a museum. Furthermore the booklet also provided information on 'parallel projects' that run concurrently with the Biennale if visitors would like to see more. 

Each gallery with own title page and floor plan on next page

Marker 19 in green with Chou Shih Hsiungs work

Marker 19 in top right corner

With such a large range of artwork being displayed, having colour coded reference points for each artist inside the given booklet upon entry made it easier for the reader to know what areas housed which artists as the signage along the art museums were also colour coded. 

the Design Museum

Visiting the Fear and Love exhibition demonstrated the broad range of the term design. From Grindr's app illustrating their efforts to provide a safe way for gays to date online in conservative countries to a robot that looked like it was out of a science fiction movie. It was also good to see the work of Kenya Hara as I recently read his book, White. 

The exhibition Designer, Maker and User, showcased the types of designers there are today, where each part of the process is critical to the over design. 
Looking back at the history of product/industrial design of Braun and Valentine typewriters for example, it is slightly disappointing that products nowadays aren't designed with the same level of consideration. It seems more and more products are designed to appeal to a mass market to help provide sales for that product. Either that or these products were designed in the age where Modernism was prolific or maybe I'm not looking in the right places. 

Overall it was beneficial to see the history of design and what could hold for the future given the advancements in technology and our society. 

Abstract Expressionism at the RA

No photography was allowed of the works inside the gallery unfortunately

The use of colour throughout these works are outstanding and has inspired me to research more on colour and to develop a better understanding of colour, which is unfortunate that only at this point in my practice have I come to realised this. 

Ad Reinhardt Abstract Painting No. 4

The use of colour has been considered so much by these artists to the point where the definition of a colour is altered. In Ad Reinhardt Abstract Painting No.4, black is made up of greens red and blues that creates depth. Could this technique be used in graphics? Rather than just printing simply black, to have multiple translucent colours that create a black?

Barnett Newman Eve 

Subtle depth is also something that these artists have perfected. Despite only using a single colour there still are shades and tones within them that hypnotise the eye and draws you in the painting, along with its impressive scale. I feel graphic design could have a level of depth in its compositions. I have always likened graphic work that has an element of depth of example WERK Magazine No.12 by REI KAWAKUBO by Thesues Chan.

 Unlike the flat designs that are trending today as seen in the premier league redesign. 

What depth adds is a level of consideration, consideration for the smaller details and subtleties that will be noticed if the reader/user takes effort to study the design. This creates an appreciation for the design and opens a conversation between user and designer.

In clyfford stills work, depth and texture are most evident. This got me thinking of Wolfgang weingarts technique of adding texture to his work. Rather than printing the whole composition with one layer of ink, he prints off the different sections one by one and by doing so the ink is layered ever so slightly to create texture. As explained in an article by Creative Review on Weingart, depth creates an added dimensionality to the work "Yet digital reproductions of his printed matter do not translate the innate ‘dimensionality’ of the work. Layers of ink printed on top of one another create a subtle texture that is only overtly visible close up". However being that printing is the main method of which graphic design work is produced, creating texture should not be the main aim or one to strive for as graphic design work are not hung up in galleries for people to study. So these details will inevitably go unnoticed due to how graphic design is viewed in public. 

Barnett Newman Profile of Light

The limitations of these works are of its scale. The smaller the works are the less impact it will have. Abstract expressionism's aesthetic is based on the gestural strokes of the paintbrush which explicitly illustrate the movement of the artists hand. The smaller the works are the less visible these gestures become and in my opinion it lowers the overall impact. Take for example Barnet Newmans Profile of Light, the imperfections in the blue outlines are purposeful which can only effectively illustrate Newman's point clearly to the viewer on a grand scale where the imperfections become more apparent. 

Overall it was beneficial and a joy to see the work of the fine artists I have been interested in within the art world for the longest time. 

The Zaha Hadid Exhibition at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery

This exhibition showcased Hadids sketches and paintings that illustrates and gives the viewer an understanding of her influences and thought process. Hadi used paintings and drawings as a design tool and abstraction to imagine her architectural proposals.

What is so amazing about these paintings and drawings is her use of perspective combined with abstract composition. Through her manipulation of perspectives, we see structures coming from all angles that are abstract on first glances but as the viewer looks into these painted forms, we see Hadids brilliant use of perspective to create mind bending structures. 

Her use of perspective got me thinking of Microsoft's HoloLens unique AR experience for the iOS app Typography Insight that is a toolkit for learning and teaching typography. In this unique version, typography can be manipulated to create 'structures', bending our own perspective of how typography can be represented. This app is a refreshing and inventive way of teaching audiences on type. 

The HoloLens version introduces 'Type Playground' where user can place text in real environments with varying types and sizes. In ‘Type Anatomy’ scene, users can learn about basic terminologies of typography. In ‘Historical Types’ scene, users can learn about historically important typefaces in 3D space.

This point is best explained through the video below.

magCulture meets UnitEditions

Being in London for the holidays, I was able to attend the magCulture meets UnitEditions events for the launch of their latest publication, Impact 1.0 and Impact 2.0. Both books are a documentation of innovative design magazine covers as chosen by Adrian Shaughnessy and Tony Brook. 

The idea behind the books were to document these magazine covers before they were lost from public consciousness. Interestingly the original book consisted of 800 pages, which were too many and was cut down and subsequently split into 2 smaller books. These covers were chosen purely on the criteria of "did we like it". All the magazines as well were photographed personally by Shaughnessy and Brook. 

Whilst on the topic of photographing these covers, Tony Brook also personally photographed Lance Wyman's work for his book The Monograph. Speaking to him, he also talked about Wyman's habit of drawing a sketch everyday for a number of years. This was something that he believed that every designer should do and was amazed at the varied range of what Wyman decided to sketch on that day. 

A magazine worth pointing out was the Emigre covers. These took my interest as Emigre are a studio that is being researched for the CoP essay and personally found it as a surprise that it featured amongst the modernist cover designs. but what Emigre represented was a change in discourse. Prior to Emigre, design was not entirely written as discourse. Rudy VanderLans changed this through these issues and subsequently how we write about graphic design. 

With the books being about documenting innovative cover designs, I posed a question to the panel (Adrian Shaughnessy, Tony Brook and Jeremy Leslie) of what would deem as a innovative cover design today seeing the wide range of cover designs in the magCulture shop alone. 

They responded by saying it comes down to personal choice. Rarely do you see a these magazine seen in this context, i.e on the shelves with other independent magazines for extended periods of time. Taking the magazine out of its context, it becomes its own. Using the latest Ordinary Magazine as an example, Leslie suggested that for a magazine to be innovative not only does the cover have to appeal to you but the content inside itself as well. Accessibility of design today means creating innovative design is harder because of the amount of independent magazines circulating today. Therefore the content should reflect the cover and work together to create a more unique magazine and reading experience. 

Finally I realised the backgrounds of the magCulture instagram posts are of the shop floor, which was nice. 

Wang Zhi-Hong's New Modernism

As much as experimental design is something of a personal interest in my graphic design practice, the way in which I work and how I view my designs are based on a pragmatic and objective approach rather than subjective. This is necessary to have when creating design, however there can be exceptions which depend on the context of the brief such as creating an album or book cover. 

Wang Zhi-Hong's work highlights that modernism still can exist in todays pastiche variations of the international style that once dominated graphic design. Through this style he is still able to retain a sense of personal style which is interesting given the objective nature of the modernist style. Throughout his designs there is a consistent element of beauty and elegance that is achieved from his explicit use of a grid, limited colour palette and restrained visual style. Wang's style draws elements from Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese and western culture which allows his work to have a more universal appeal. 

Therefore despite my admiration for experimental design, looking through the work I have produced so far in the course, I have realised that 'new modernism' may be more suited to the way I work and how I analyse my designs. It is not to say to that my work should copy Wang Zhi-Hong's style, it is a way to push me to further research on the grid, to have a better understanding of colour, typography and furthermore injecting my own style into briefs whilst still retaining the modernist look.