It must be high time we re-invent the connotations of the term “patchwork.” Formerly the province of the shoddy, the poor, and the downright material-deprived, the word must now apply to the refined, the exquisitely rich, and the literally and metaphorically dense creations of designer Jan Kath—especially in view of his recent Boro Collection.

Boro Hand-Woven Carpet. Designed and Manufactured by Jan Kath.

The Boro Carpet Collection Evokes a Beautiful Ancient Art Form

Modeled after “an ancient patchwork art from Japan,” Boro is a collection of hand-woven carpets that inspire towards a textural and thematic layering. The rugs feature such rare and lovely materials as hand-combed and hand-spun Tibetan highland wool, Chinese Silk, and stinging nettle fibers.

The textural and visual allure of such unusual materials certainly sell Boro all on their own, but the nature of their inter-weaving seals the deal. The slow incorporation and emergent revelation that is part and parcel of hand-weaving results in multiple gradations—the varied “depths” that Kath likens to an oft-painted surface: “the look reminds me of a wall to which many layers of paint have been applied, one on top of another, and which are now peeling away.”

That characterization is apt in view of the Boro collection’s multiple shades and varied “grains.” Though it may seem odd to apply this descriptor to a rug, each and every one of the Boro designs displays the type of intricate patterning once thought only to exist in nature. Boro’s mesmerizing linearity belies this notion, as the rugs take on the lovely luminescence of tropical foliage, the hypnotic shimmer of the plumage of rare birds.

About the Designer: If you’ve never heard of Jan Kath than you’ve certainly never heard of Bochum. But you will and you will again, as this German native from the city in the North Rhine is fast becoming one of the most renowned weavers of Oriental carpets this side of Shanghai. Kath’s designs display a synergy between contemporary minimalism and old world craft. The hand-woven rugs employ traditional materials like hand-combed Tibetan wool and Chinese silk to “consciously break with customary ways of seeing and throw strict rules of composition overboard.”