Designing with Destination in Mind: How Travel Inspires Obeetee's Collections

The year is drawing to a close and with it comes the dreary December weather — freezing tiles in the morning, thick fog hanging in the air through the day, the sunlight dimly filtering through. We wouldn’t be surprised if we learnt that most of our readers were planning to escape to warmer holiday destinations at this time of year. The end-of-year festivities are a great opportunity to unwind and relax, and for the team at Obeetee, these calmer moments offer more than just an opportunity to satisfy our wanderlust.

You may not be surprised to learn that inspiration for carpet design can be found across the world. After all, the history of carpet-crafting spans an entire continent, beginning in the Middle East and Central Asia before arriving in India with the Mughal Empire. Each handcrafted carpet represents centuries of creativity, with our ancestors innovating to find ways to weave new and intricate patterns and motifs that are still found in carpets today. For a modern carpet company with a long history of handcrafting floor furnishing, it’s important to honour our history while also finding ways to appeal to audiences with a wide and diverse range of tastes. Obeetee’s collections today are often inspired by travel, each destination imbuing our carpets with a distinguished character.

Destinations can provide great inspiration for design, as proven by Mariella Ienna’s collection in collaboration with Obeetee - Mediterranean Memories. Inspired by Mariella’s Sicilian hometown, Palermo, this collection explores the rich and diverse culture and heritage of Palermo’s architecture, seaside, flora, and fauna as well as tying in themes from Italy’s history and mythology. Having grown up in Sydney, Australia and Palermo, Italy, the Australian-Italian designer embraces multicultural experiences, bringing elements of her travel to her designs. Mariella’s exploration of her cultural heritage, combined with Obeetee’s expertise in handcrafting carpets results in an exquisite collection, with unusual twists on conventional patterns and colour schemes that bring a taste of the Mediterranean lifestyle to India. We believe this collection is a great fit for customers looking for carpets that transport them to new locations while opening up their homes to stories and design narratives from lands miles away.

We also have collections that draw inspiration locally, demonstrating that you don’t have to travel too far to find new experiences that rouse your imagination. Our readers may not be aware of Obeetee’s collections of cushion covers, our way of venturing into home decor that enhances comfort and relaxation, and, quite conveniently, pairs perfectly with our carpets. From our cushion collection comes Nagalore, a range of woven cushion covers in pure cotton that are produced locally by skilled artisans in Nagaland. The most unique feature of this collection is that it uses the Naga weaving technique to embroider tribal designs on pure cotton fabric dyed in hues of deep maroon, navy, black and white. The arresting geometric patterns are typical of the Naga weave, a long-preserved technique of hand-weaving practised by women using a compact loin loom. Placing these cushion covers in your living spaces will bring a refined character to the space, while also supporting centuries of traditional handicraft and carrying the stories of the craftspeople with it.

Returning to carpets, we want to introduce you to a collection that blends the local and the global, drawing on Indian motifs and colour schemes to create a fusion of modern design. The resulting collection, Gypsy Oasis, is an eclectic range of carpets, true to the Bohemian style in its free-spirited, artistic expression. The collection aims to transport you to places unknown, yet familiar, and in doing so these carpets represent a transition between the structure of traditional carpet design, with frame-in-frame, geometric structures, and the allure of modern carpets, with bright and unconventional colour combinations and offbeat motifs and patterns. Although not strictly inspired by a single travel destination, we know that this collection is capable of inspiring wanderlust for times and places you’ve never even experienced before.

We strive to design carpets that pay homage to lands near and far while bringing fresh patterns and design narratives to our customers. The next time you travel, take a moment to observe all the minute details - you never know when inspiration will strike. For now, if you’re interested in exploring our range of home furnishing and furniture, you can visit us online at obeetee.in, or in-store at our flagship locations pan-India.