Mind-bending rugs remix Eastern symbolism into glitch art

Taking the traditional Eastern woven carpet and reimagining it, Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed wants to apply his modern and unique twist to the stylish floor covering. Ensuring his creations retain their historical symbolism, Ahmed’s handcrafted carpets stretch, skew, and reinvent orthodox patterns, expanding beyond conventional square borders with pixelated and graffiti-daubed designs. The result is a vision-altering take on the traditional carpet that owes as much to the burgeoning ‘New Aesthetic’ art movement as it does to techniques which are thousands of years old.

Ahmed says his work aims to take an icon of Eastern tradition and transform the boundaries “beyond any recognition.” By taking his study of sculpture and applying it to textiles, you could argue he makes regular rugs look plain and uninteresting.