Ecstasy and doom

A mild rush follows a gentle spark, swelling into a furor of flames that scorch the rug. White-hot, purifying combustion consumes it, removing the last dust and impurities left behind by the arduous, messy process of weaving. A ruthless process causing irreversible change: Doom.

The rug emerges gently in the aftermath of flames, cleansed of its impurities. It rests peacefully upon the earth, revealing its marvelous hand-crafted beauty. The rug is washed using specially modified wooden paddles that cleanses it thoroughly. The rug is now in its pure state. Emanating ecstasy, the beauty of hundreds of thousands of carefully placed knots culminates in the rug’s long-awaited final form.

The physically taxing process of making a rug proves that the consecutive states of doom and ecstasy are necessary oscillations in creation, where an object must submit to both creative and destructive forces.

The magazine, titled NOMADIC, seeks to explore aspects of the creative process and the emotional by-products of artistic pursuit. From working with raw, untouched materials to producing the final rug, we encounter a constant oscillation between doom and ecstasy.