Designing a carpet for the grand ballrooms of a hotel in the old town of Prague in the Czech Republic, I looked around this beautiful city for inspiration and found boulevard after boulevard of ancient buildings, including the world’s first university.
Art Deco and Art Nouveau treasures are everywhere and every style of architecture before and since, including Frank Gehry’s Dancing House that tweaks its rear end at the passing River Vitava. The city escaped the World War II bombings and so much of its history is told through its architecture, from Roman settlement until today.
An icon of the city is the astronomical clock on the town hall. I joined the human wall that stands beneath it during the high season and at most times of day and night, to gaze up and take photographs and didn’t realise until later that what we were all admiring a replica as the real clock has been removed for renovation which will take a painstaking two years to complete.
But I got what I needed, deconstructed the intricate dials and motifs and added an Art Deco twist. In my head and soon on computer – a new carpet design is born.
