Iconic Op Art rugs from the 1960s and ’70s by the likes of Verner Panton and Victor Vasarely, who transferred his Op paintings onto objects of design and everyday use, or the geometric Bauhaus experiments that preceded them come back to life in the new GIRO rug series.
GAN, a division of the Gandia Blasco Group specializing in handmade rugs, poufs and accessories, enlisted MUT Design, a Spanish design studio founded in 2010 by Alberto Sánchez and Eduardo Villalón, known for their experimental approach to design, to create these visually striking objects.
In the words of the two MUT Design founders, “GIRO it’s a bit like the Möbius strip; it’s a simple shape that, when twisted, creates a sense of energy as well as rich and powerful visual effects. We really like to play with textures and varying levels of depth, as well as with perspective and with basic geometric patterns, because they result in designs with a lot of movement and bring a playful touch to concepts that are in theory quite simple”.
GIRO’s design is rooted in a series of mathematical curves that, through subtle variations, create the visual illusion of a tube gracefully winding around itself. The layers of different textures are carefully crafted to enhance the perception of depth and volume, complementing the graphic spiral grid. The hand-tufted technique carried out entirely in India, allows artistic freedom in translating this precise design into pure wool. The meticulous process requires a minimum of three days for hand tufting and an additional three days for the intricate line-by-line scissor sculpting.
