Nicolas Party: Landscape

Carpets of Distinction was a collection of new works curated by Panel that explored connections between the spheres of art and craft and the mass-produced culture of industrial design. Carpets of Distinction also created a unique partnership between seven contemporary artists who worked in collaboration with Dovecot weaver and rug maker Jonathan Cleaver to create a new collection of limited edition hand–tufted rugs. Nicolas Party was one such artists who worked with Cleaver, as part of this project, to translate his design into rug tufted wool. Party’s use of colour is deceptively child-like, but deliberately seductive; cartoonish, but with a lightness of touch. The traditional references to floral motifs in textiles has given the Dovecot rug tufters an insight into how to interpret Party’s use of colour and brush marks to create the rug.