Artist Makes Ornate Rug Designs with Ballpoint Pen

Craft & Design
Artist Makes Ornate Rug Designs with Ballpoint Pen

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When Jonathan Bréchignac isn’t busy creating digital works for clients of his Paris design studio, he’s on an analog meditation of pen and paper, elevating the humble Bic ballpoint to a next-level art medium with his incredibly detailed and meticulously drawn series titled The Carpets. Intended to approximate the size of Muslim prayer rugs, the smallest in the series, Carpet n°3, is roughly 37″× 23″, and the largest, Carpet n°1, is 46″× 29″.

Each carpet is developed and drawn organically, bit by bit, as a nod to ancient artisans who would spend years working on one piece of art. Bréchignac’s first carpet took 15 months to draw, while subsequent carpets have taken roughly 6–8 months apiece. When asked if he employs any digital tools, he replies, “No, I draw everything directly on the paper. I just need a compass and a ruler.”

To add what he calls “a 2.0 dimension” to the drawings, Bréchignac has penned in QR codes that correspond to pages on thecarpets.net, offering a “digital and evolutionary extension of the drawings.”

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I'm a word nerd who loves to geek out on how emerging technology affects the lexicon. I was an editor on the first 40 volumes of MAKE, and I love shining light on the incredible makers in our community. In particular, covering art is my passion — after all, art is the first thing most of us ever made. When not fawning over perfect word choices, I can be found on the nearest mountain, looking for untouched powder fields and ideal alpine lakes.

Contact me at snowgoli@gmail.com or via @snowgoli.

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