Floor Art

Interior architect Ishrat Sahgal is using sari silk to raise the status of the carpet from afterthought to centerpiece of a room!

- Ishrat Sahgal

When did you first begin to notice design?

IS: As a kid, I would notice small details and elements in our family home in Chandigarh - the patterns on the floral upholstery, the tassels and trimmings on a cushion. As a teenager I would point out things I liked and things I would’ve done differently in spaces we would go to. I never had a doubt in my mind what I wanted to do ‘when I grew up’. This is what drew me to applying to Rhode Island School of Design, and it was hands down, the best decision I made. I graduated with a BFA in Interior Architecture, with a minor in Art. Those four years changed me not only as a designer, but as a person. Art in its various mediums is the most intimate way of expressing yourself. To be able to do that, you have to know yourself very deeply; at 17 and 18, that wasn’t easy!

What is the story behind Mishcat Co?

IS: I worked in New York for interior designer Susan Gutfreund before moving back to Delhi a year or two later. I launched Mishcat Co in New Delhi in 2013, with the aim to change the way people had started to think about the carpet. Many people in the art world use different forms of upcycled or recycled material as a medium for making art. We work with upcycled sari silk. Sari silk as a material is beautiful, inspiring, and completely sustainable - it is luminous and the different yarn mixes available each time add to the beauty of it. That, along with the upcycled aspect and the relevance to Indian history and craft, is what drew me to introduce a carpet in this beautiful new material. I look on the carpet as an art piece and a starting point, around which a room can be curated.

How do you go about this?