design: August 2008 Archives

Torana Squares are novel carpet designs that we have created exclusively for the NEST design collective in Shanghai. Details and a full list of designs are on our website

We've departed from the normal rectangular format, as well as from the colors and patterns you'd expect to see on a carpet.

These rugs are still made at our workshop in Lhasa, from pure Tibetan wool and with the same care and attention that we put into all our carpets. The brilliant shades have all been achieved with non toxic, azo free dyes which are fully absorbed onto the wool and hence safe for the environment (as well as for our customers!).

They are available in sizes ranging from 3ftx3ft, 4ftx4ft, 5ftx5ft and upwards.
For our Shanghai customers, Torana Squares are on sale exclusively at the NEST design collective on Tai Kang Lu (see previous-but-one post in this blog for details). We hope to make them available to our Beijing customers soon, and they can also be ordered in the meantime.

Don't be put off by the title, NEST is a SHOP where you can BUY THINGS, in Shanghai's Tai Kang Lu.

Shanghai residents will know this area already. For those of you coming from further away, ie Beijing, (and it is rumored that there are places even further away than Beijing), Tai Kang Lu is an old district of narrow streets that has been taken over by cafe owners, designers, photographers, ceramicists, jugglers, sorbet-makers and other global flotsam.

Nest was started by designer Trine Targett (Jooi), who invited fellow designers to make unique products especially for the NEST space. The NEST line-up now includes Rachel Speth and Jeff Delkin (Bambu), whose remarkable lacquered bamboo artistry is pictured at left or whereever the damned image appears, does Movable Type suck or what? , clothing by Lisa Wen (Brown Rice), Jammy Yang's novel lighting designs (Y Town), Grace Liu's delicate ceramics (AsianEra), paper art from Paper Tiger, Sherry Poon's organic cotton babywear (Wobaby), Sacha Silva's remarkable furniture (A00) as well as founder Trine's textile works ... and carpets from Torana.

These people are all my friends, so expect lots of shameless plugs thoughtful, objective coverage of this venture over the coming weeks.

There is more information on NEST, a map and so on on their website.

Continuing an occasional theme of outstanding design from unexpected sources

This is a basket made by a member of the Dong minority, from Guizhou province in the South West of China. It's for holding fish caught from the rivers, and is also a fine example of elegant form following practical function.

The basket is worn at the waist, so its maker has given it a flattened profile so that it does not interfere with the wearer's movement.

The curious "twist" to the design is purely for aesthetic reasons: the basket's maker has chosen to cover up half of the supporting struts and just to reveal those traveling from top left to lower right.

Dong baskets have a complex double-walled structure. Inside the basket there is an openwork "frame" of criss-crossing diagonal struts. The outer wall (ie what you can see in the photo) is built around this framework. This makes a very strong container.

Despite being a utilitarian object, I think this stands comparison with sculptural baskets, made as objects of beauty and for ikebana, by modern Japanese artists.

This might be the most frequently worn clothing design in human history.

The side-buttoning style is the archetypal form for most Chinese jackets, only falling out of favor in the early 20th century, when the center-buttoning style became more popular. I find this more appealing for its asymmetry. You can still see this style occasionally in Japanese workmen's jackets, but it is now uncommon in China.

It's also difficult to find old examples. Millions (billions?) were made, but they wore out and few people bothered to keep them. This example comes from Guizhou province in SW China, and I think it probably dates to the 1920s. The cloth is dyed with natural indigo.

Time for a revival?