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This fragment is part of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" carpet.
Through the fragment we trace the journey of the fragment owners and their collabs as they explore, experiment and creatively advance socially relevant themes. Here is the fragment as we are sending it on this three and a half-year journey.
Follow this story to observe the transformations the fragment undergoes over the course of these years...
...and on we go...
...with Orlando Tomas Ongkingco
My name is Orlando Tomas Ongkingco, 71 years old. I was born in Davao City in the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines. I grew up in several provinces during my younger school days due to my father's job requirements.
I became fascinated with kites when I was about 6 y.o. when my grandfathet made me a brown paper Diamond/Malay kite and we flew it together. Flying it high was an amazing and fun experience for a young boy like me who was introduced to the mystery of flight.
Years ahead, with a family of my own, I again introduced kite flying to my kids. They showed the same excitement and joy I experienced when I was their age. Soon, I began looking for older friends who have the same enthusiasm and interest for kite flying. In 1993, I founded the Kite Association of the Philippines (KAP) and started joining local kite festivals with my KAP team mates. The local kite events exposed me to Filipino traditional kites and the master kite makers from other provinces. It was during that time that the Department of Tourism (DOT) was looking for kite makers to represent the Philippines in the Athens International Kite Festival in Greece. I was lucky to have won in a recent local kite event and was chosen as one of the Filipino kite ambassadors to Greece. My first foreign trip to an international kite festival introduced me to other kite authorities from different countries who invited me to their own kite events.
In 1998, I decided to write a small book about Philippine kites to introduce traditional Filipino kites in the Dieppe International Kite Festival in France which is considered to be one of the biggest kite event in the world. "Kites Asia - Philippine Kites" is a 50page booklet about the kite culture, practices and traditions of the Philippines. It was intended to be a school book for all and a legacy for the future generations who may have forgotten important cultural values. Due to the booklet's simple form of text and hand-drawn sketches, I wanted to add new write ups about my research as well as colored photos to make it more enjoyable to read.
As I was doing more research for kite ideas and things, I saw photos in FB of tradirional kites from a local event in Sulu, the farthest province from the main island of Luzon where I now reside. Sulu is a group of islands bordering Malaysia. It is predominantly a Moslem province with a long history of brave warriors defending their rights against the Spanish colonizers since the 1500's and then against the American colonizers after the Spanish "defeat" in the American- Spanish War in 1800s.
It was by chance that the Facebook posts and photos were about a big celebration in the town of Talipao where different cultural traditions were highlighted. Exhibits and displays included the "Taghuri"- the loclal Taosug name for kites in the Moslem province of Sulu. The "taghuris" are classified to different types - the "pindun", a diamond shape beginner's or children kites. The "tallung", a pentagon shape fighter kite. The "awak-awak", "janggayan" and "mandal" are big kites for aerial displays of talented kite artists and kite masters.
This deeply-rooted kite tradition is said to have been a Chinese influence according to the Sulu Tawi-Tawi Cultural and Historical Society founded by Sharifa Pearlsia P. Ali-Dans, a prominent cultural and historical worker from Jolo. The Sulu Sultanate was one of the earliest and most powerful ruling clan in the 1400s before Spanish colonizers arrived in 1521. Cultural, trade and diplomatic relations were already in place in these southern islands that the Ming Emperor of China invited 3 Sultans with their families to Beijing to be their royal guests. Unfortunately, in 1417, the Sultan Paduka Batara got ill in Dezhou and died during their trip back home. The Ming Emperor, in honor of a royal guest who passed away in his kingdom had a big burial tomb built for the late Sultan. The visiting entourage continued their trip back home, but two of the late Sultan's sons remained in Dezhou to guard his tomb. The two sons eventually assimilated with the Chinese Hui Moslem community, got married and eventually became the forefathers of the descendants of the An and Wen family names in that province.
The journey continues...
...with Leong Chee Wan
Fragment #58 takes you on a truly Asia journey of Malaysia. Featuring 2 distinct kite artist one of modern and one of old.
Leong Chee Wan, 58 years old, from Kuala Lumpur - a globetrotting modern kite artist that designs an builds kites which do not employ bridles and had been at it since 1993. Latest is his remarkable piece of kite art "Albee Talons" which features an eagle kite with a wingspan of 6m. Kite is build using sate-of-the -art materials of carbon fiber, dyneema, ripstop nylon capable of flying in the lightest of winds.
Mohd Rezuan Abdul Rahman, 65 years old, from Pekan, Pahang - a traditional kite builder since the age of 13, he still uses the methods of old which was passed down from generations before him. His materials are of specially selected bamboo from him home state, handmade paper and glue of rice flour. Each kite's exquisite details are hand cut and takes up to a month to complete. His biggest accomplishment was a huge Wau Pungguk Pahang with a height of 13ft.
...and on we go...
...with Tess Absalom-Gough...
I have a story to tell you. It’s about a flying carpet!
The 100 pieces of the replica dragon carpet are travelling the world for three years, telling new stories of how different cultures come together and collaborate.
Fragment #58 has come to Red Dragon Kites, to start a new story of kites in different cultures.
Here we’re discussing fragment #58 at the planning for Aberdyfi Kite Festival, the event that brought Red Dragon Kites into being.
There are two stories #58 has to tell now
One is about the overlap between English and Welsh cultures in North Wales. The area where Red Dragon Kites is based, and where our festival is held, has a rich Welsh culture, and language of its own. Things are changing, with the increased move of first-language English people into the area.
There are bridges to be built between these two cultures, and one of the ways to do that is through the children. So Red Dragon Kites works with our local community council in Aberdyfi to put on this free festival. The aim is to help children of all our locals, whether they are drawing on old roots here or newly planted in this soil, to come together in a joy-filled event.
Here’s the piece, getting ready for the free kitemaking workshops we run for children.
Next #58 needs to be safely tucked away, because the festival itself is messy, sandy, blustery fun!
Here are some pictures of the event itself.
Then we close this chapter, but another story for #58 is only just starting!
I’m not the only one who’s keen to share the joy of our hobby, and how it unites people from all over the world. So Fragment #58 is flying off itself, as soon as our festival is over. It’s going to a great kite-maker in Malaysia, Leong CheeWan, the man who designed and made this kite for me. He will use it to share his story of kites, before it moves again, who knows where?
I can’t wait to find out.
...and on we go...
...with Asmaa and Mentalla Said
D O O D L E A N D T H E G A N G
Design for sisters Asmaa and Mentalla Said is first and foremost a form of storytelling, Doodle and the Gang, was founded on a simple yet profound belief: design can carry memory, and memory can connect us all.
Their journeys across cities, cultures, and landscapes became more than travel. Each place left behind a trace, a fragment of color, a ritual observed, an emotion that lingered. These fragments became the foundation of Postcards. The collection is their way of capturing the intangible: the fleeting details that shape our sense of belonging, distilled into a vision that others can feel for themselves. Their story is one of curiosity and passion, of transforming memory into an experience that can be shared.
It is about taking what once felt ephemeral, a street remembered, a place revisited in thought, and reimagining it as something timeless. Their story is one of curiosity, of passion, and of transforming memory into an experience that can be shared.
An ode to absence
This work begins not with what remains, but with what is missing.
Working from fragment #58 of the reconstructed dragon carpet, we turned away from the image itself and toward the spaces it no longer holds. The four clay pieces are shaped from the negative voids of the rug, giving form to what was lost. Their surfaces carry the imprint of the replica’s texture, a contact taken from an object that is itself already a translation of something damaged and incomplete. The clay, drawn from the earth and hardened by fire, mirrors the same elemental force that once contributed to the carpet’s destruction. In this gesture, loss and making become intertwined. What was erased is not restored, but rearticulated through another material, another time.
These pieces do not attempt to complete the original. Instead, they propose a parallel object, one that emerges from absence rather than presence. If the fragment continues its journey, these forms move alongside it in a different direction, carrying with them the weight of what can no longer be seen, but still leaves a trace.
Fragments I & II & III
Fragment IV
The journey begins...
...with Robin Canham
On my first day of the job as Conservator at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, I met Bailey, the Curator of Indigenous Cultural Heritage. Bailey is a Métis Art Historian, an expert on Métis hooked rugs, and a gifted artist. Our roles often brought us together. What began as professional collaboration soon grew into a friendship.
Bailey shared her expertise about Métis rug hooking with me—a tradition stemming from resilience, creativity, and sustainability. Historically, Métis families repurposed worn textiles to create beautiful, functional rugs, and we had many exceptional examples of hooked rugs in the collection.
Our connection deepened when Bailey gifted me a hooked rug that she made. It was decorated with berries, a motif that resonated with both of us. We discovered that, despite our different cultural backgrounds—me as a settler and Bailey as Métis—we both carried fond childhood memories of picking berries with our grandmothers. That shared experience connected us.
CulturalxCollabs is about these moments: when traditions meet and create new understandings and context. Working with Bailey showed me that one aspect of cultural diversity is finding the common bonds that unite us.
When I saw this “Weaving the Future” collab I knew that I wanted to connect the dragon carpet fragment with the Indigenous rugs at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum and use it as a way to say thanks to Bailey for being my friend and enriching my world view.
We were both able to sign the back of the rug, and so the story continues.
Front and Back
About the Project
The Museum for Islamic Art's project, #CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the future, celebrates the transformative power of cultural exchange and the shared threads that unite us all. All the things we love, have loved and will ever love come from cultural exchange, migration and diversity, or as we like to call it #CulturalxCollabs.
100 carpet fragments, cut from a replica of the iconic dragon carpet, will travel the world (delivered by DHL). The fragments will ignite #CulturalxCollabs with co-creators, inspiring human ingenuity, fostering community and ultimately demonstrating how cultural exchange enriches all our lives.
Follow #CulturalxCollabs on Instagram as the project unfolds...
...or learn more here
Weaving the Future
Join us on a journey with 100 carpet fragments as they travel around the world for three and a half years, finding temporary homes while bridging cultural boundaries, fostering worldwide community united by the power of human stories.
Fragment Journeys
100 carpet fragments part of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" project. Follow their journeys through the ever changing owners' over three and a half years.
Creating a carpet
A 17th-century Caucasian carpet, burned by an incendiary bomb during the Second World War, serves as the model for a replica, woven in 2022 by a family in Rajasthan, India. Over 2.3 million knots later, it is being sent out into the world in 100 fragments. This is the story of how it came to be.
Where is the Dragon?
The star of the "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" project is a so-called Caucasian dragon carpet from the 17th century. A dragon carpet - all well and good - but: where is the dragon?
