Have you ever heard of the “Auteur Theory?” Postulated principally as a theory of film direction and development, the notion holds that a comprehensive work of art should be part and parcel of a singular personality. Thus, the movies of Quentin Tarantino, for instance, bear an unrecognizable stamp, easily distinguished from those of any other director. Something of this philosophy is at work in Edition Ruckstuhl.

Dessus Dessus Dessous. Designed by Atelier OÃ’ for Edition Ruckstuhl.

Debuting to the public at last month’s Salone, this collection of nine new carpet designs under the aegis of the traditional Swiss carpet manufacturer “owes its origin to the belief that it would be nice for once to ignore the constraints imposed by larger production runs and by the marketplace, and to create an exquisite selection of ‘floor concepts’ which interpret the ancient carpet concept in new and unconventional ways.” In short, the project aspires to elevate carpet design to the eye-level heights of first-rate art, where captivating creations like Atelier OÃ’s Dessus Dessus Dessous have every right to be.

DDD began as a technical foray into the functional potential of supposedly superfluous material. The designers at Atelier OÃ began with the thin strips of linen typically used for a carpet’s outer trim. Then, similar to a weaver’s method of rhythmic assembly, they followed the mantra of “Plier-Entrelacer-Superposer" (“Fold-Weave-Overlap”). And in a compelling testimony to form follows function, they created a colorful and geometric piece that defies two-dimensionality. The interwoven strips of linen–which gradually morph from one color to two to three across the length of the carpet–form a series of diagonally-oriented cubes that suggest a labyrinthine structure: the imprisoning apparatus in Franz Kafka’s The Castle, or one of M.C. Escher’s artistic exercises in Perspectivism. When displayed like a museum or gallery painting–as each of the Edition Ruckstuhl’s nine pieces were at Salone–Dessus Dessus Dessous jumps off the loom, if you will. Its multi-dimensionality compels deep immersion, urging you to examine it from several angles and distances, just like great art.