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Rug Artworks: Artist uses wool to weave carpet scenes of green and natural landscapes

It was during Paris Fashion Week that models for designer Dries Van Noten walked down a catwalk that looked like an enchanting forest path. Instead of being real moss and undergrowth, it was actually a remarkable carpet crafted by Alexandra Kehayoglou, an Argentine artist who spent over two weeks painstakingly stitching it together, before it was shipped off to the 2015 Spring/Summer collection show. Carpet, not fashion, become the most talked about of the week.

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Alexandra Kehayoglou's wool carpet depicting a mossy forest floor with dense green foliage backdrop and an orange swing hanging from above

These woven landscapes have become Kehayoglou's signature style. She started making them shortly after graduating from art school in 2008, creating everything from mossy ponds and rocky outcrops to pure white glaciers and fields. The craft is closely connected to her family history, as her Greek grandparents made Ottoman-style rugs in Turkey. And when war broke out, they fled to Argentina with nothing but their loom to survive.

That was back in the 1920s. Today, her family owns El Espartano – one of South America's largest carpet manufacturers. Based in her own huge workshop, Kehayoglou hangs rugs vertically from large scaffold to work on her masterpieces. On average, it takes her two months to create carpets that look like paintings or art installations. She even crafts mossy covered stools and carpeted deckchairs, so her work doesn't just limit itself to the floor.

Via Colossal

Orange swing suspended in front of a moss-covered wall and forest floor in Alexandra Kehayoglou's woven carpet artwork
Wool carpet artwork depicting a landscape of moss-covered terrain with blue ponds, scattered boulders and tufts of vegetation in varying shades of green and cream
Textured wool rug with organic shapes in shades of green and yellow, featuring a blue-grey pond-like form surrounded by moss-like tufts
Textured wool carpet in shades of green, yellow and brown arranged in overlapping circular tufts to resemble natural moss and undergrowth
Woven wool carpet depicting a moss-covered hillside with scattered rocks and varied green tones, with a smaller separate carpet piece below
Overhead view of a textured wool carpet by Alexandra Kehayoglou depicting a natural landscape with moss-like forms in shades of green and yellow surrounding a silvery pond, with scattered spherical elements below
Clusters of spherical and organic-shaped moss-like wool forms in shades of green, yellow and teal arranged on a grey surface by Alexandra Kehayoglou
Close-up detail of Alexandra Kehayoglou's wool carpet showing textured cream and green fibres resembling daisy flowers and moss
Collection of textured wool rugs in various shades of green, brown and cream arranged on a white surface, resembling natural moss and lichen formations
Wooden deckchair with woven wool backrest depicting a seascape in shades of blue and turquoise, and green moss-textured seat
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