The Textile Museum Journal: Between Ornament and Structure: Carpets in Modern Art and Architecture

As part of our online interview series for The Textile Museum Journal, contributing scholar Farniyaz Zaker explores the role of  carpets in modern art and architecture. Drawing on Gottfried Semper’s idea that architecture has its roots in textiles, Zaker investigates how modern architecture and art use textiles — especially carpets — to shape our perception of space, creating a sense of enclosure and physicality. 

Her research examines the carpet-inspired gardens created by Gabriel Guevrekian in 1920s France; the architecture of Belsize Park house in England, which Georgie Wolton built in 1976 to house her kilim collection; a 2010 art installation at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie created by Rudolf Stingel; and the textile art of Anni Albers, as well as Zaker’s own art practice. 

About Farniyaz Zaker 

Farniyaz Zaker is an artist and lecturer in Persian Studies in Oxford University’s Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Zaker’s research and practice deal with the history and theory of architecture and textiles with regard to bodily, societal, spatial and linguistic practices. In 2015, Zaker completed a D.Phil. in fine art at the University of Oxford with the support of St. John’s College’s Lamb and Flag Graduate Scholarship. She has been a visiting research fellow at UCL’s Institute of Advanced Studies and a junior teaching fellow at the Ashmolean Museum’s Karsis Fellowship Programme.