modern spring 2007

NILUFAR’S CHOICECARPETS53

MÄRTA MÅÅS-FJETTERSTROM Tveskott, 1941

Textile designer Märta Måås-Fjetterstrom revived ancient weaving techniques and drew

from Swedish folk traditions to express a new aesthetic medium in Swedish carpet

and tapestry design.An artist by training,Märta Måås-Fjetterstrom would begin her creative

process with a watercolour design and would then worked closely with the young women

weavers in her small workshop to convey the artistic freedom and the technical innovation

ofher designs.Inspired by Arts and Crafts ideas,Märta Måås-Fjetterstrom started her career

at the Malmo Craft Society and eventually set up her own workshop, first in the town

of Vjittsjo, and in 1919 with the financial backing of Alfred Nobel, in Båstad on the

Southwest coast of Sweden. Drawing inspiration from the rich Swedish landscape, Swedish

folk art, and more abstract explorations of colour, Måås-Fjetterstrom employed a gentle

palette of natural grays and greens, soft-hued reds, and lush dark tones. Her contribution

to the technical aspects ofweaving are equally important – she not only brought back almost

forgotten weaving techniques, but invented one of her own, the MMF technique, named

after her.

“Måås-Fjetterstrom not only brought back almost forgotten weaving techniques, but invented one of her own, the MMF technique, named after her”

GAETANO PESCE Quel che non si può far grande...si può far piccolo,(What can’t be made big...can be made small), 2001

Gaetano Pesce (b.1939) is an Italian artist,architect and designer who has lived in New York

since 1980.Well known for his use ofinnovative materials,Pesce’s colourful and cartoonish

work turns traditional concepts on their heads and is often politically provocative.Shooting

to fame in 1969 with his technically sensational UP5 series of anthropomorphic chairs

which inflated when the packaging was opened, Pesce has since come up with a wealth of

improbable architecture including the extraordinary Organic Building in Osaka and the

Manhattan office ofthe advertising agency TWBA/Chiat/Day.

“For the past 30 years,I have been trying to give architecture back its capacity to be ‘useful’

by quoting recognisable,figurative images commonly associated with street life and popular

culture,and by generating new typologies,”says Pesce.“I strive to seek new materials that fit

into the logic of construction, while performing services appropriate to real needs.

Architecture of the recent past has mostly produced cold, anonymous, monolithic,

antiseptic,standardised results that are uninspiring.I have tried to communicate feelings of

surprise,discovery,optimism,stimulation and originality.”

Pesce has brought all ofthese principals into carpet making.Making a tactile object from his

proposed design for the new World Trade Centre: two towers with a heart suspended

between them, the carpet Quel che non si può far grande…was made by injecting blobs of

silicone into a suspended canvas.The suspended position allowed the drops to dry hanging

down,forming a resistant and elastic surface which massages the feet.