Fourier Tapestry

A Project by Jenny e. Sabin

Distributed in Showrooms Internationally

The Fourier Tapestry is a carpet line generated through a set of algorithms or instructional recipes that transform and weave color, sound and harmonic rhythms into material. Each algorithm is configured and then woven on a digitized jacquard loom. Every unique rug within the series features a custom-designed algorithm and is composed of 80 percent New Zealand wool and 20 percent nylon.

This line draws upon art and design and combines architecture, weaving and computational systems. Based on the Fourier Series, a binary mathematical sequence for the analysis of sound and color, each rug is woven in wool and synthetic yarns using an early computational model for computers, the Jacquard loom. This combination of advanced technologies for the production of craft based industrial products confounds traditional emphasis on the hand made in craft-based history, and raises provocative questions about self-generating patterning processes afforded by novel combinations of historical and contemporary technologies. This work examines the contradictions of tradition and innovation through the recombining of existing albeit disparate systems.