Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs
Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs
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Inside Cocoon Fine Rugs’ Market Collection

Cocoon Fine Rugs draws from the colours, geometry and woven textures of raffia bags

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Mutton Street is a chaotic mix of antique brass lamps, teak almirahs and old cameras, all jostling for room under tarpaulin sheets that catch the afternoon sun. Tucked somewhere in that jumble (easy to miss) are the raffia bags. 

Woven into colourful patterns, these bags hang off wooden cart handles, sling over a vendor’s shoulder or do the grunt work of carrying fresh vegetables, spare parts and someone’s home-cooked lunch. They are hardly the sort of object one associates with fine rugs. So what happens when designers begin to look at them differently?  For Cocoon Fine Rugs and Pinakin Design, that curiosity sparked The Market Collection.

Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs
Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs

Designed with Mohak Mehta of Pinakin Design, the collection does not reproduce the bags literally as rugs. Instead, the designers tapped into the qualities that make them distinctive in the first place. They took that woven look of the raffia bags and reinterpreted it by using the original stripes, geometric forms and rhythms as the building blocks of the rugs. 

The colour palette leans into indigo, black and cream accents. The patterns on the rugs loosen up, as stripes break into scattered dots or curve away into soft medallions. These choices make the rugs more contemporary while still retaining the trace of the street-side inspiration that started it all.

Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs
Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs
Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs
Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs

The campaign takes the rugs back to the market. Shot against Chor Bazaar’s own teal tin walls, the rugs sit stacked between wooden almirahs and cane chairs pulled straight from the market floor. The collection’s weaves and graphic patterns stand out against the lived-in backdrop of the market. A polka-dotted striped rug draped over a weathered market chair or a scalloped runner hung directly against the rough tin walls puts the collection in deliberate contrast.

For Cocoon Fine Rugs, The Market Collection continues its exploration of India’s cultural memory through contemporary design. The raffia bags that inspired it carry stories of livelihoods, movement and memory, which the collection draws on to create something new. In doing so, it celebrates the idea that inspiration can be found in the most familiar places, and that skilled craftsmanship can transform everyday memories into enduring objects of design.

Discover The Market Collection at Cocoon Fine Rugs

Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs
Photography courtesy of Cocoon Fine Rugs
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