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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...
In 2021, I rescued a lost and frightened Arabian horse. He had been tied to a post for years with very little food. This horse’s name is Abu, and I have dedicated my last few years to caring for him and becoming his friend. When my brother-in-law Abhi passed me the fragment of the dragon rug featuring a tree and a garden, he and my sister introduced me to the world behind the design and weaving of each of these unique treasures. In my mind, I began to dream of a garden of peace and freedom for animals, people, and humans—a cosmos full of life to dream of new worlds, where all beings can live in peace, without subjugation, without wars, without hierarchies.
A carpet that can weave a spell for the future. A spell to liberate all beings currently under domination. Then, Abhi helped me design, using his technique, square by square, a cosmos of floral elements, celestial beings, black holes, animals, and people, so that by laying on this rug, people can create new narratives for this world full of cruelty and violence. A Planet for Abu was born from a collaboration between Patricia Domínguez and Abhinav Sethi, a designer and producer from Jaipur, Rajasthan, whose family has practiced carpet-making entirely by hand for generations—from dyeing the fibres to tying the very last knot. As they explored Mughal carpets together, something shifted: these woven spaces were filled with animals, yet each creature served a purpose within the hunt. Patricia asked whether it might be possible to set them free, and from there they began to build something different. Drawing for a carpet is not an act of free drawing: every shape must be translated into the twelve-by-twelve grid that structures the weave, a pixel-based logic that dictates every curve and figure. Into this grid entered the beings of Patricia’s cosmos: the blind toucan from Madre Drone, her one-eyed dog, her horses, a Diaguita jarropato, black holes, portals, drones, butterflies, and other animals from her personal bestiary. They all coexist without hierarchies in an interspecies space where plants, animals, and human technologies occupy the same plane in peace.
Patricia Domínguez in collaboration with Unknown Carpets
Recycled sari wool and silk
2.85 x 3.67 mt, 2026
Produced in Jaipur, India with the generous support of Cecilia Brunson Projects and MAC/CCB Lisbon
The Sound of Carpets - Fragment #00
The beautiful fragment we received is part of a replica made in Rajasthan—our place of origin, and the place where we create our own carpets. As we unfolded it, we imagined the missing part of the fragment: the sound—the sonic ambience of the moment and place where it was once created.
It is an atmosphere we know intimately, one that moves us to create carpets every day: the tac tac of threads being knotted, the sss of wind drifting through open windows, the whisper of code words exchanged between karigars to coordinate each knot. Through this auditory portrait, we offer an immersive moment—inviting the listener to connect with the place and the hands that crafted this piece.
This missing part becomes a meditative space—a bridge to the origin of the fragment and to the complete carpet. The sound piece was created specifically for this fragment as a meditative form, drawn from Unknown’s The Sound of Carpets.
The Sound of Carpets is an ongoing project by Unknown Carpets, shaped over years by the daily rhythm of Rajasthani looms. The gentle hum of spinning yarn, the cadence of knotting, and the soft rustle of trimming form a living soundscape that Unknown continues to gather into an expanding collection of field recordings.
When the fragment arrived, it shifted something. It didn’t interrupt—it joined. It brought with it a trace of time, a sense of distance, and a familiarity we couldn’t quite name.
Listen to the carpet. It carries a sacred sound.
We consider this sound precious because we believe the auditory language of its making has remained almost unchanged—from when the original carpet was first woven in the Caucasus in the 17th century to when this replica was crafted in Rajasthan. Our methods—the very ones captured in these recordings—remain traditional, with only subtle shifts over time.
It is a portrait you can hear when you close your eyes.
The project captures these harmonies not only to honour the precious work of artisans, but also to reflect our ongoing effort to evolve traditional knotting and dyeing techniques.
This is not preservation for nostalgia’s sake—it is a way to keep the craft alive. By adapting, questioning, and reshaping tradition for today, we honour our roots while allowing the form to grow and speak to the present. In this way, each carpet becomes both a visual archive and a sonic document of a living, ever-changing tradition.
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...
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.
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.
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?