Cosmic Check by Kangan Arora

We're delighted to launch Cosmic Check as the first of a two-part collection by textile designer Kangan Arora. The meticulously thought-out patterns and colour combinations seen across the 10 new rugs are borne from what Kangan describes as ‘often mathematical’ processes and were designed during lockdown.

Time was abundant and led to repetitive processes and patterns, reflecting the cyclical nature of my days.

Kangan Arora

Yantra in 160cm x 230cm. Interior Stylist: Hannah Bort, Photographer: Felix Speller

Cosmic Check is a collection of dancing colours and distorted checkerboard patterns drawn from Indian cosmic arts and board games. The designs are full of movement and motion, they allude to both the circular rhythms of chanted mantras and the eye-catching graphics of modernist op art.

Tango Runner in 70cm x 230cm. Interior Stylist: Hannah Bort, Photographer: Felix Speller

It all began with Kangan’s obsession with the checkerboard pattern, which began five years ago. This intrigue stems from three experiences which would then form the Cosmic Check collection.

These experiences consist of Kangan’s work with the TATE, where she played with distorting the checkerboard pattern seen on the Switch House extension of the building. Secondly her discovery of Yantras which are paintings used as diagrams in Indian Iconography and Cosmic Art and lastly, on a project Kangan worked on with KYOTO Design Lab in Japan. Kangan was introduced to an extensive archive using traditional Chirimen silk fabric used to create Kimono’s, many of which included the checkerboard pattern.