Created as a part of the heritage textiles project, The Mad Men is a assembly rug for children. As part of final result of the project, it intends to give new scope to the felt products of Tonk, Rajasthan. I drew my inspiration from the idea of tessellation, and how human beings can interact with them.
Explorations included small scale prototypes to test viability and durability. This fox tessellation, is partly self attaching though also requires external joinery in particular locations.
I also attempted external joinery as shown here. This particular exploration gives the illusion of dimension through dyeing.
Hexagons, one of the most versatile and common tessellations. Small scale model.
The Mad Men is created in such a way that each piece fits into the other with minimum effort and without external joinery. The shape of each unit enables strength while being used.
The overall idea, of course, was to imitate human figures in various comic poses.
The colors are selected keeping in mind a child's room, encouraging a fresh burst of energy and fun. Since the product is assembly type and interactive, it allows each unit to fit into another like a puzzle, and grow horizontally.
Have fun!
