When the warp and weft of every thread tell the stories of India’s rich heritage, you know these are no ordinary rugs. They are custodians of the country’s cultural repository. Viraasat, Obeetee carpet’s most ambitious endeavour till date, pays homage to this legacy through a new collection of artisanal rugs that capture India’s vibrant soul. They reflect the love and laughter shared by its people, the thriving passion for art and craft, the enduring sense of brotherhood, and a deep reverence for its festivals, rites and rituals.
“This precious legacy, passed down to us through generations, needed to be carried forward. The collection is a way of preserving these narratives for posterity, ensuring that they remain alive and cherished in the future,” says Angelique Dhama, president of Obeetee Carpets.
To truly capture the essence of diversity, four renowned designers—Tarun Tahiliani, Anju Modi, Ashdeen Z Lilaowala and Anita Dalmia—came together to design the carpets, each infusing their unique sensibilities, and creating a multifaceted collection that stands at the crossroads of history, art and personal stories. “Creativity alone wasn’t enough to design them; understanding the technicalities of carpet-making was crucial, which is entirely different from making garments. It took 2.5 years to create the five-seven carpets I designed. Each is a manifestation of my imagination of how the forests during the Ramayan era might have looked. I used elements of flora and fauna, making it feel as though you’ve stepped into a palace from 500 years ago,” says Modi.
For Lilaowala, the vision was to design the pieces as works of wall art. For this, he leveraged his expertise in Parsi garha embroidery and translate the traditionality of these designs into modern carpets. “We centered each carpet on a medallion and incorporated a profusion of biota elements,” he says, adding, “They’re so special, I can’t imagine them being used in the conventional way as floor coverings. They’re meant to be cherished as family treasures.”
