During this year’s Fuorisalone, Tai Ping’s Milan showroom hosts an exhibition highlighting one of the most remarkable rugs in the company’s nearly 70-year history.
Developed in tandem with artist anothermountainman (Stanley Wong), the hand-tufted Hong Kong Walk On I measures 3 x 6m and features a design so complex that it defies the capabilities of computer-generated templates and advanced manufacturing techniques.
The rug is part of anothermountainman’s iconic Red White Blue series, initiated in 2001 and based on the three-colored nylon canvas that has become a symbol of the island. It has come to embody Hong Kong’s dynamism, positive spirit and resilience, as well as traditional values, such as neighborhood, family and friendship.
The starting point for the Hong Kong Walk On I rug was a high-definition photo of a piece of Red White Blue canvas with one end completely smooth and the other crumpled and scrunched into wave-like patterns. For anothermountainman, it symbolizes Hong Kong’s trajectory: decades of steady progress followed by recent hardship and turbulence.
The entire process took six months and the result is so realistic that viewers often mistake it for the original nylon canvas, questioning whether it is in two or three dimensions.
In Milan, the rug will be displayed vertically in the four-meter-high space, accompanied by a selection of vases and other small artworks by anothermountainman, as well as photos and videos documenting its manufacturing process.
