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Chris is often asked if his
carpets are original designs or copies. He says “This is a very
important question. The simple answer is yes, and no.”
“I see what we are doing
as a re-creation. Our carpets are really not replicas or
reproductions. We are inspired by a great tradition and we are
hoping to be a part of that”.
Much of what drives his
efforts is simply just an unabashed love for these patterns. It
all started because he couldn’t find any accurate reproductions
in the market, the few he saw were often either too sloppily or
tightly drawn, on top of anachronistic foundation structures and
finishes. His first efforts were focused on understanding the
intricacies of the geometry. He initially started drawing the
overall designs by hand, to sketch the overall geometry, which
of course was critical, but quickly realized that he also had to
get down to the level of the essential module, the individual
knot itself, to really understand the geometric patterns. |
Some people have asked him,
isn't it tedious, studying and reproducing these patterns knot
by knot? He says “Actually, it is joyful work, like playing
with little pieces of light that bit by bit make up the
beautiful visions of each design.”
In addition to studying the
original carpets whenever it is practical, he admits that he has
been blessed in this work by the many fantastic books published
over the last few decades, where the photographs are so
sufficiently detailed, that one can actually study the
individual knot structure.
And it is through this
investigation that that he has come to know each of these
classical design types very intimately, almost like the weavers
do. He says “The most beautiful designs work on all these
levels of scale, certainly in terms of the overall gestalt of
the whole carpet, but also fundamentally on the level of the
individual knot. When you are laying out a carpet, it is
like a great chess game, where every move is beautiful" |
