Carpet Series | 2018

The “Acco” carpet is the first of the contemporary paper art Carpet Series created by Bianca Severijns.

Artistic handmade carpets embody ancient crafts, family traditions and cultural values. They can tell us so much about the time and place they were made. We treasure them as items of luxury for their artistic beauty, hidden essence or complex weaving techniques. But the most endearing aspect of handmade carpets is probably the sentiment that they are products of intensive heartfelt labor nourished by warm feelings of home. 

Curator Ronit Reik requested an artwork for the luxurious Efendi Boutique Hotel in Acco (Acre). Severijns felt the design should reflect the city’s sharp historical, cultural and religious contrasts and extremes. Her fascination with the thin lines between chaos and aesthetics, heritage and modernity, friction and peace as well as old souls versus young spirits, inspired the weaving and blending of each hand-torn paper “thread” that creates this composition. Choosing a contemporary paper art carpet was an obvious subject matter choice.

Severijns forms her individual interpretation of an artisan carpet by creating intricate patterns of various layers of paper that result in distinctive textures.  She reinvents old weaving crafts through a modern paper medium. Experimental quality and the play between 2D and 3D textures of hand-torn paper pieces are often the core of Severijns’art. Likewise, is her monochromatic color choice: in this case white, to emphasize the pure and fragile use of paper.

The contemporary paper art carpet “Acco” will be displayed in the public lounge of the recently renovated Efendi Hotel. The artist hopes that the artwork will generate a feeling of sincere comfort, curiosity and lively conversation.

All image courtesy Sigal Kolton.

For inquiries about this contemporary paper art carpet “Acco” or to commission a paper artwork for a public space, please contact the artist.