The Persian designer Taher Asad-Bakhtiari (b. 1982, Tehran, Iran) offers a striking contemporary take on hand-woven textiles and furnishings, mapping out a bold style of open-work tapestries which retool the kilim flatweaves and densely-knotted gabbeh rugs that have long defined his region’s cultural traditions. Asad-Bakhtiari’s fabric constructions are often built around large-scale triangular patterning and crossed by striated bars and lines—minimalist forms which can override the logic of warp and weft and may recall landforms and the iconography of ancient civilizations. They also nod to the repeated geometries of mid-century avant-garde design and craft movement like those at Black Mountain College. Woven from hand-spun and naturally-dyed wool with the occasional inclusion of contemporary materials, these lace-like works, collectively referred to as the “Tribal Weave Project,” seek to spur new creative wrinkles within a craft tradition dating back centuries.
While Asad-Bakhtiari’s textiles honor his namesake heritage in the nomadic Bakhtiari tribe’s crafts and are realized in concert with today’s artisans weavers, he is especially noted for his innovations in techniques and weaving methods. Many of his fabrics seem to breathe on their own accord, composed of airy weaves with almost translucent sections of exposed warps. Rippling and shimmering as light and air pass through their open network of threads, they uncover patterns within the fundamental crossbeams of the weaving process: the empty space between the overlay of threads.
Meanwhile, his resin-glazed oil barrel seats allow for a metamorphosis of form and context. A ubiquitous sight around Tehran at construction projects, over time the aluminum oil barrels acquire the scars, rust, and patina of endless use. Asad-Bakhtiari polishes them to underscore their humble beauty, compressing them and applying accents of gold before encasing them in lustrous resin.
Taher Asad-Bakhtiari is a self-taught artist whose practice revolves around objects, textiles, and experiences. He studied in Canada and Switzerland and resides in Dubai and New York.
TAHER ASAD-BAKHTIARI
b. 1982, Tehran, Iran
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 The Pond House, Carwan Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2014 Reinvention: Dastan, Outside the Basement, Tehran, Iran
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Carwan Gallery – 10 Year Anniversary, Caravan Gallery, Athens, Greece
2020 Side Gallery, Casavells, Spain
2019 TEFAF New York, Hostler Burrows, New York, NY
Nomad St. Moritz, Carwan Gallery, St. Moritz, Switzerland
2018 Nomad St. Moritz, Carwan Gallery, Samedan, Switzerland
Design Miami/ Basel, Hostler Burrows, Basel, Switzerland
2017 Beirut Design Fair, Carwan Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Nomad Monaco – Villa La Vigie, Carwan Gallery, Monaco
2016 One of a Kind: First Year Anniversary, Architectural Digest, Dubai, UAE
Design Days Dubai, WASL, Dubai, UAE
2015 Warehouse 421, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Design Days, Dubai, UAE
2014 Villa Paradiso, Carwan Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Wallpaper* Middle East Revealed in association with Dubai Design District,
London, UK
Design Days Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2013 L’Ebeniste, Carwan Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
The Mosaic Rooms, London Design Festival, A.M. Qattan Foundation, London, UK
Alaan Artspace, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Miart: The International Fair of Modern and Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2021 Choudhry, Talib. “Artist Taher Asad-Bakhtiari’s Dubai Home Celebrates His
Nomadic Spirit,” Architectural Digest Middle East, May.
2020 Studach, Mel. “27 Go-To Drinks Tables Sourced by AD100 Designers,”
Architectural Digest Pro, June.
2018 Kwun, Aileen. “Textile Message,” Surface, July / August, Issue 148, pp. 78-79
“New Creatives: Taher Asad-Bakhtiari,” Architectural Digest, October, pp. 104
2017 Habib, Rania. “A Tribal Heart,” Architectural Digest Middle East, pp. 78-81
2016 Akel, Joseph. “Getting Knotty,” Four Two Nine, Issue 07, pp. 162-163
Butterfield, Charlotte. “AD Tastemakers: Prince of Persia,” Architectural Digest
Middle East, Spring, pp. 55-61 and 75
“AD + Vestiaire Collective, le meilleur de la décoration,” Architectural Digest
France, October 14, pp. 22
“Pond Memories,” Cover: Carpets and Textiles for Modern Interiors, Autumn,
pp. 100-103
“Tisser la Laine et L’eau,” L’Officiel Hommes, June, Numéro 66, pp. 212-214
“All For One,” Architectural Digest Middle East, March / April, pp. 111
“Radar Trends: Modern Bedouin,” Architectural Digest Middle East, pp. 49
“Boy Wonder,” Harper’s Bazaar Interiors, Spring, pp. 64-69