mexican artist javier marín weaves his creative process into rugs + tapestries for odabashian

luxury rug manufacturer odabashian has collaborated with javier marín, one of mexico’s leading artists, on a new collection of two rugs and five tapestries created with the traditional gobelin and tibetan knot weaving techniques. presented for the first time in mexico city’s zona maco from 5 to 9 february 2020, the limited-edition tapestries explore the deconstruction and reconstruction of molds used to make marín’s sculptures, while the circular rugs capture spontaneous images of battles. images courtesy of odabashian

the five tapestries by odabashian and javier marín are 100% hand-made, woven in a traditional gobelin technique, using dozens of custom dyed new zealand wools in order to create hi-resolution images. the imagery on them are photographs portraying slices of the molds that marín and his team used for his monumental sculptures, which proved to be a great challenge for odabashian as they had to reflect with complete fidelity the images provided by the artist. in other words, the tapestries capture images that not only show a part of a mold, but also include every detail of the cut mold, the cardboard on which they were placed, the tape on the cardboard, a shoe-print left by a worker.

next to the tapestries, marín also created two circular ‘battle’ rugs, woven in a traditional tibetan knot technique using new zealand wool. the technique and material makes for a premium feel, yet highly resistant rug that can and be used on the floor or hung on the wall.

‘the battle concept is stored deep within all of us; all of us have battles, even if they are only in our heads,’ explains the mexican artist. ‘for this part of the project, I started making free compositions: I cut characters in black paper randomly and throw them over a white surface creating different stories each time.’

‘this collection is as much about process as it is the final outcomes,’ adds marín. ‘the tapestries explore the deconstruction and reconstruction of molds used to make my sculptures, the documentation of this process generating the new works. meanwhile the ‘battle’ rugs are created spontaneously – building a story from nothing as the figures fall on the canvas.’

project info:

artist: javier marín

manufacturer: odabashian

presentation: zona maco, mexico city, mexico

duration: 5 – 9 february 2020