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Taher Asad-Bakhtiari - Artists + Designers - Hostler Burrows

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.

CV

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
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, p. 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, p. 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, p. 111
“Radar Trends: Modern Bedouin,” Architectural Digest Middle East, p. 49
“Boy Wonder,” Harper’s Bazaar Interiors, Spring, pp. 64–69

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