Balcones Rug

The hand-woven Balcones Rugs will liven up any interior with their vivid colour patterns and delicate embroidery detailing inspired by Colombian cityscapes. Designed by artist Sebastian Jauregui Calderon, each piece references traditional, colourful patterns painted on or carved into the door frames of balconies on the upper floors of historic houses in cities like Bogota and Cartagena. These playful patterns reflect the heritage of the European colonists, as they reference Andalusian and Mozarabic architecture but with a Creole twist. The ombre effects in the Blankes rugs – which are hand-woven from soft virgin wool – capture the atmosphere in the hazy hours of sunset when the sun sinks into the mountains. The collection comes in eight intriguing patterns, with variations ranging from neutral to vivid colour schemes.

Weavers in workshops located in Cundinamarca, a region in the Eastern Andes of Colombia, make each of the rugs entirely by hand using a traditional horizontal loom. Before the weaving starts, the artisans twist fibres of different colours and twist them into yarns to create the specific colour gradient of the rug. This yarn-making process takes eight days. Over the next five to six days – before the weaving can begin – the craftspeople set up the loom. The making of the actual rug takes between eight to ten days. They spend two to three days just on the middle part with its elaborate, hand-embroidered decoration. Only the most experienced artisans can make the Balcones, as they have learned the techniques required to achieve the colour-grading effect and relief-like structure.

Born in Colombia, artist and designer Sebastian Jauregui Calderon lives and works today in Cologne. After studying Creative Arts, he graduated from the Royal College of London with a Master of Arts in 2019. Exploring the increasingly fluid boundaries between our digital and analogue life, he paints abstract artworks expressing these juxtaposing, multilayered identities. With the Balcones rugs for ames, Sebastian brings his aesthetic from the canvas to the loom, expressing his fond memories of Colombia in a new art form.

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Balcones Rug

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