London studio Raw Edges partnered with Italy-based Persian rug company Golran to update the latter’s Lake collection with a floral pattern whose color appears to change depending on the viewing angle.
The new design, available in three colorways and introduced at Milan Design Week in April, is an extension of an earlier range the studio launched in 2014. It references the work of Israeli artist Yaacov Agam, who used color and lenticular patterns to create optical art. In this process, lenticular lenses—a technology also used for 3-D displays—produce printed images with an illusion of depth or movement as the onlooker changes location.
While working with Raw Edges on the first collection, Eliahu Golran, one of the company owners, expressed interest in an original floral sketch. “Ever since, he has asked us, ‘Why not expand the collection?’ As the first design was very triangular and sharp, we wanted to create a pattern with a grid of circles that developed in a more floral direction,” says Raw Edges cofounder Shay Alkalay.
Hand-knotted from silk and wool in Nepal, the rugs follow a circular grid pattern that creates color-filled spaces. They are made with varying pile heights so the hues are perceived differently depending on the viewer’s vantage point (colors appear more intense from one end and more muted from the other). “You see plainer graphics on one side, and more color on the other,” explains Alkalay. “When you walk around it, you experience the change almost as if it were animated.”