The Cult of the Portland Airport Carpet

The things people manage to elevate to cult status never ceases to amaze but there was something truly charming about the whole Portland International Airport carpet affair.

For those unaware, the ‘PDX’ Carpet is quite possibly the most recognisable airport carpet of all time, building a strong emotional resonance with travellers since it was laid down in 1987. For many it signified adventure while for others it meant the familiar sight and smell of home.  Sadly in 2013, the carpet was finally stripped and laid to rest but for many its legacy lives on in the form of remnant cuts, tattoos and a bizarre range of merchandise.

The carpet is rather dated by today’s standards but it maintains a sense of late 80s charm with its dark blue lines, red and purple dots and light blueish-green floor colouring. As a means of farewell to the cult carpet, Portland Airport held a massive PDX Carpet festival within the airport as a global farewell. Over 40,000 people came together took ‘foot selfies’ of the carpet, which you can explore here. That bizarre merchandise we mentioned? Just take a look here; people seriously loved this naff old rug.

What’s the closest emotional bond you hold with a carpet or rug? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.

The 2000 Year Old Pazyryk Rug

Whether your aesthetic preference lays in tradition or modernism, there’s something universally alluring about the history of design. Persian rugs for instance laid the foundation for modern carpet design and carry a lot of historical weight both socially and artistically. One of the oldest Persian rugs to maintain its original condition is the 2000 year old Pazyryk rug which resides in St. Petersbury’s Hermitage Museum.

This beautiful work of antique weaving was left completely untouched in a Pazyryk burial mound located Serbia’s Altai Krai Mountain’s for two millennia. Excavated in 1949 by Russian archaeologist Sergei Rudenko, the rug drew significant attention for its elegant design and it’s West Asian BC origins. An exact date that the rug would have been crafted is unclear but the quality of its preservation is really quite profound.

The design itself is rather fascinating with a series of griffins weaved into the border followed by another border inward depicting 24 fallow deer walking in single file. When the rug was discovered, it was situated next to a female mummy wearing an Indian silk tunic raising further questions about the rugs’ exact origins. Respected textile expert Ulrich Schurmann believes the rug is of Armenian descent while the Persians have stated it’s an artefact from the Achaemenid Empire. Regardless, the area of its discovery is well documented as a trading hotspot between China and Central Asia, so who knows where it may or may not have been?

It’s a beautiful piece of history and one that shows how deeply rooted our contemporary approaches lay in classic Persian design.

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