With the Colomychus Chernobilis, carpet hand-knotted in Nepal made in wool and bamboo silk, we pays tribute to the land tormented by the first nuclear disaster, Ukraine, today the scene of a bloody war.
Ten years after the presentation of the first rug of their Mutations 1.0 collection, we imagine ourselves as entomologists in the Radioactive Red Forest, documenting the genetic mutations of its inhabitants.
Our fear of nuclear energy is matched only by our growing dependence on it. Inspired by the poetic scientific illustrations by Cornelia Hesse-Honegger, we have imagined for NODUS the Mutazioni (Mutations) carpets, which present the top-down view, like in an entomologist case, of real insects with imaginary mutations due to the radiations: the Amaurodes Chernobilis, the Tacua
Fukushimae e, latest mutated insect, the Colomychus Chernobilis moth.
The background grid pattern, designed by Olivia Lee, faithfully replicates the “divine proportions” of the Golden Ratio, thus highlighting the asymmetries due to the mutations of the insect, which however still retains an imperfect, unmistakable beauty.
Since in nature the mechanism of evolution rewards the usefully perfect, we are not given to know what the long-term effects of the mutations caused by man will be and we limit ourselves to observing them, astounded. The refined artisan production of this precious carpet tells us a bittersweet story
and attracts us with its threads of beauty, in a new edition of the “spot the differences” game.
Francesca Lanzavecchia & Hunn Wai
