The Carpet Design Awards 2016 were announced at DOMOTEX Hanover during the special ceremony on Sunday 17th January. Zollanvari International won the two most coveted awards: Best Innovation and Best Liked by DOMOTEX Visitors. The winning carpet is ‘Glow’ from the Kundan Pure Silk® Collection. This is the third win in the Best Innovation category for the company, the most number of times any company has won in this category, confirming Zollanvari’s commitment to furthering the art of carpet weaving.
The word ‘Kundan’ has its origin in Sanskrit. It signifies ‘gold purified to the highest degree’ and evokes an image of an object in its purest form – an object that shimmers like gold. The Zollanvari Kundan Pure Silk® Collection is the culmination of centuries of weaving tradition combined with a modern sensibility and an understanding of interiors. This weaving tradition dates back to the courts of the great Mughal Emperors of 16th century India and has remained an integral part of the culture and handicraft of the nation ever since.
‘Glow’ is a prototype for a new cold dyeing technique. This innovative method of dyeing silk fibres is both eco-friendly and sustains the beautiful striations of translucent colours in the over-dyed carpets. This new technique allows the dyeing of the carpets at very cold temperatures in order to bind the dyestuffs, as opposed to the traditional process of using extremely high temperatures that is detrimental to both the environment and the silk fibres.
Here are the key advantages of using Zollanvari’s proprietary dyeing method:
1 Lower energy usage, which requires no use of fossil fuels. 2 Colour transference and better absorption of colour with a single application, as opposed to multiple applications and washes, thus reducing water consumption. 3 This in turn results in drastic reductions in dyestuff effluents during the washing and far more efficient water recycling. 4 Higher temperatures weaken the silk fibre. Zollanvari’s new technique retains the integrity of the fibre imparting a natural glow to the finished carpets.
Zollanvari participated at DOMOTEX 2016 (16–19 January) with a centrally located stand on the main square of the Carpet Design Awards feature presented by Innovations@DOMOTEX. The company’s presentation at this edition of the fair once again celebrated the extraordinary range of the Zollanvari collections, from the tribal, classical and modern designs from southern Persia to the glamorous contemporary and traditional designs of the Kundan Silk® Collections made in India. Zollanvari have been exhibitors at DOMOTEX for almost 20 years and the fair is the most important flooring show in the handmade oriental carpet market.