BENGALURU: History, for designer and founder of Cocoon Fine Rugs Ayush Choudhary, plays a major role. While he has done a collaborated collection with designer Ashiesh Shah to develop rug designs which have drawn inspiration from the facades of iconic buildings in Chandigarh designed by the architect Le Corbusier; a collection with designer JJ Valaya where inspiration was drawn from historic Persian motifs, this time Choudhary’s source of inspiration comes from the German Bauhaus movement, which marks its 100th year this year.
The latest collection of rugs – which was unveiled on Friday – has a whimsical feel and geometric arrangements – design concepts that Bauhaus became famous for. It has been made in hand-carded wool with natural, handspun silk accents, which come in a soft and muted colour scheme. “The Bauhaus movement has had a longstanding influence on design history that maintains a progressive look even today, after 100 years.
I wanted to create a collection with design inspiration that drove me to, in fact, start the brand. So, as a tribute to Bauhaus art, we have designed rugs that have a soulful, textural, and luxurious feel using diverse weaves and colours. Also, keeping in mind that sustainability is the need of the hour, we have used authentic natural materials whilst also preserving their inherent properties, making these rugs 100 percent recyclable,” says Choudhary as he celebrates the 10th year anniversary of his setup.
With the Bauhaus philosophy hinging on the idea that “art exists everywhere”, Choudhary says the idea struck him when he was travelling for a show to Germany. “On returning to India, I was very excited to create a unique collection and started putting in a lot of research. Our research was based on a lot of Bauhaus paintings and product design created at that time. We have managed to create a design aesthetic that is bold yet versatile geometric designs with exuberant use of neutral tones that bring out the styles that shaped this avant-garde movement,” he says, adding that he collection is solely based on his personal travel research.
While most of the inspiration was based on the art done in the Bauhaus period, converting them into rug designs was something they had to put a lot of thought in. “As all the rugs are hand knotted, we carefully had to draw motifs and geometric shapes that could be woven easily at the same time they had to look aesthetically good. The rugs are hand knotted using high quality wool and silk. To get colours close to the Bauhaus thought of design were also a challenge,” he says.
While he’s always open to ideas and expansion, as of now they are just focusing on rugs. But in line with his interest in art, for his next collection, they have tied-up with a Malta-based design house, Daaahaus, and will be converting the works of an artist into rug designs.