Sahar Col le ction by Haynes Robinson. D esign S ynergy.

Ornament Light Mint by Tamarian modern spring 2007

IN SITUGEBA 41

RUGS AND THE HOLY HOST Cathedrals are perhaps not the first place you would expect to find contemporary carpets, but Graz-based rug company Geba has proved that a simple design can complement almost any venue

One of the carpets in this year’s Carpet

Design Awards at Domotex in

Hanover (see pp. 81-95) also adorns

the floor surrounding the altar in the Baroque

interior of Salzburg Cathedral, and it might

surprise readers to discover that the rug in

question is Yarlung B10by Geba (right) with

its contemporary striped design in blue and

purple, with a yellow central stripe.

It all began almost nine years ago when

Harald Geba was asked to design a suit of

carpets for the Abbot’s office at the Monastery

of Admontin northern Austria and through

these carpets the Archbishopof Salzburg

became familiar with Geba’s rugs. Meanwhile

one of Geba’s clients, an architect who worked

with some of the churches in Salzburg invited

the company to make some designs for the

Cathedral. When Geba showed them a

prototype, which happened to contain the

liturgical colour purple, they approved the

sample without delay, and Yarlung B10came

into existence.

Salzburg's Cathedral, with its magnificent

facade and mighty dome, has been destroyed

by fire and rebuilt, enlarged and expanded

many times since 767. After the dome was

destroyed by a bomb in 1944, the Cathedral

was restored and took on its current shape.

As Geba explains, the Cathedral ”did

not want traditional Persian-patterned carpets

near the stone altar as they are far too busy,

whereas the new rugs are not.” Unexpected

as the rejection of traditional designs may

be, this decision makes sense.

It is obviously a concept that is catching

on since Harald Geba is currently working

on three more church commissions, in

Tirol and Salzburg. He agrees this is quite

astonishing, and in particular that he is

given such a free hand in terms of his own

ideas: “They just want me to give them

ideas concerning colours and designs!”

Geba appears to be Vatican-bound.

Top left: Five Yarlung

B10carpets in Salzburg

Cathedral at Advent

Top right:

The domes of

Salzburg Cathedral

Top middle right:

Yarlung B10(detail),

Geba

Above right: The abbot’s

office in Admont

Right:Admont Monastery