I + I - contemporary rugs and accessories
GAN rugsI + I design contemporary rugs and home accessories. Founded in 1996 under the direction of Italian designer Paolo Giordano, the collection consists of contemporary, handwoven rugs and ceramic pieces. The introduction of two-tone colour combinations identify the 2008 collection.
I + I rugs utilise the ancient technique of hand knotting on a loom, which allows for rounded lines and soft contours of the design. In addition this process opens the possibility of each piece being unique.
Fabulous rayon yarns are used for their silky softness, durability and rich sheen that shifts according to the vantage point and angle of illumination. The sophistication of texture within a splendid simplicity of form, create timeless accents to a space.
The exploration of techniques and the meeting of Italy design and ancient culture, has resulted in the 2008 Strawberry Fields Project. A series of limited edition rugs are the result of a discourse between I + I and the Indian and Nepalese artisans who produce each rug.
Throughout different periods of history, carpets have told the story of ethnic groups, specific cultures, dynasties, clans and even individual families. The colors, shapes and symbols used were part of a jargon belonging to a more or less restricted community. This language unmistakably defined the community's identity. in doing so, the carpets, or at least the most masterful among them, became charged with immanent energy, the kind of energy that is found in all objects that succeed in telling a story, but where often not everything is deciphered.
"The Strawberry Fields Project stimulated these communities to design carpets that would be the free expression of their creative language, our hypothesis being that also their results could communicate stories of groups or individuals and intrinsically contribute to the defining of a new contemporary symbolism, where diversity of culture and language become points of convergence, group identity and recognition, in an almost tribal way." - Paolo Giordano
