or Australian designer David Caon’s
first project for Handmade, we introduced
him to the British pioneer of contemporary
rugs, Christopher Farr. Their response
to our theme of Wellness + Wonder was
predictably unpredictable, combining the
very Milanese concept of the aperitivo with
Japanese tea ceremonies, woven together –
in this case quite literally – by Christopher
Farr’s long experience at the cutting edge
of textile design. ‘Ceremony’, as the final
product came to be called, comprises an
ultramarine rug, supported by aluminium
armatures so that each end becomes half-rug,
half-chair, plus a matching side table that
also functions as a storage unit or ice bucket.
Caon launched his Sydney studio in
2009 after several years working in Paris with
fellow Australian Marc Newson. ‘Ceremony’,
though, was inspired by his design
apprenticeship in Milan, where he worked
with Memphis co-founder George Sowden.
‘Milan is where I was introduced to the
tradition of aperitivo,’ Caon says, ‘and I found
it such a lovely way to end the day. I think it’s
part of Italian culture, where if you’re going
to drink, of course you must eat something.
‘For “Ceremony”, I wanted to take this
tradition and elevate it to a form of ritual.
By eliminating the typical tables and chairs
and providing only floor-level seating, it also
alludes to the Japanese tea ceremony, creating
a kind of bridge between the two practices.
The table must be there because an element
of equipment or monument is required
during the tea ceremony. But aperitivo is also
by nature a relaxed and informal practice,
so I formed the rug to create backrests and
allow people to lean back and be at ease.’
The rug itself was made by Christopher
Farr using a unique new weave developed
in India by Los Angeles fashion and textile
designer Gregory Parkinson. It is woven
from polypropylene fibre, which is normally
used for yacht ropes, making it waterproof
and extremely hardwearing. Matthew
Bourne, who set up the company with
Christopher Farr in 1988, takes up the story:
‘It just so happened that we were already
working with Gregory, and he suggested we
try and do something with polypropylene,
so the project was very much a three-way
process. We were WhatsApping with
Gregory in India, David in Sydney, me in
London, and Chris in Los Angeles, which
I guess is the modern way of working. But
we’ve always loved collaborations,’ Bourne
adds. ‘They’re what really keep us going.’That’s as true today as it was 30 years ago,
when Farr opened his first shop in Primrose
Hill, north London. Trained as an artist at
the Slade School, Farr first made the
connection between carpets and fine art
on a travel scholarship to Peru. The pre-
Columbian textiles he saw there were, he
remembers, ‘as saturated in colour and
as aesthetically pleasing and as powerful
as a great Rothko’. Back in London, Farr
attended a groundbreaking show called
‘The Undiscovered Kilim’ at the Whitechapel
Gallery, curated by a young Nicholas Serota
and mounted by David Black, who owned
the leading rug gallery of the time. ‘It was
the first time anyone had really taken rugs
seriously as abstract art,’ Farr says. ‘At the
time, the whole star artist business was
really kicking off, and it appealed to me that
these were done by anonymous artists. It led
me to get a part-time job with David Black.’
Bourne was also working for Black part-
time as a carpet restorer. ‘One day, Chris told
me he was going to open his own shop selling
antique rugs,’ Bourne says, ‘and he asked
me if I wanted to work for him on Saturdays
in return for having a room at the back where
I could do my restoration work. After a
while, Chris started offering his own designs,
as well as antique rugs, and they sold well.’
But the real turning point was a
collaborative show at the Royal College of Art
in 1991 called ‘Brave New Rugs’. ‘Suddenly we
were all over the papers,’ Farr recalls. ‘I think
we had the right idea at the right time,’ adds
Bourne. From that point on, they only sold
original new designs. Further collaborations,
with Romeo Gigli, Rifat Ozbek, Allegra Hicks
and Ralph Pucci followed, establishing
Christopher Farr as the go-to brand when it
came to contemporary rug design, a position
it has consolidated since with acclaimed
re-editions of work by past masters such
as Gunta Stölzl and Josef and Anni Albers.
For its 30th anniversary celebrations,
the label is launching three collections
of new designs with long-term collaborators
Collett-Zarzycki, recent Central Saint
Martins graduate Irene Infantes, and
Commune co-founder Pamela Shamshiri,
not to mention a top-secret charity project
with some leading names in the art world.
‘It’s slightly intimidating to look back
over 30 years,’ Farr says, ‘but it’s refreshing
to know that a company such as ours, that
puts design and art above all else, can still
thrive in such a ruthless economic climate.’ ∂
caonstudio.com; christopherfarr.comF
∑ 063
AUSTRALIAN DESIGNER
DAVID CAON AND
MATTHEW BOURNE,
CO-DIRECTOR AT
CHRISTOPHER FARR, AT
THE RUG SPECIALIST’S
LONDON SHOWROOM.
THE ULTRAMARINE RUG,
HARDWEARING AND
WATERPROOF THANKS
TO POLYPROPYLENE
FIBRE, IS AT THE HEART
OF THEIR INFORMAL
SEATING ARRANGEMENT
FOR THE ITALIAN
APERITIVO RITUALSee the
finished exhibition
piece on page 162