Armadillo has announced the launch of Gaia, a new rug collection created in collaboration with Barcelona-based multidisciplinary artist Carla Cascales Alimbau. The collection marks the Australian-founded brand’s first partnership with an artist, comprising six rug styles crafted from New Zealand wool, silk, jute and linen.

The collaboration emerged over several years, with Armadillo co-founders Jodie Fried and Sally Pottharst spending time in Cascales Alimbau’s Barcelona studio before traveling to India to work with artisans and weavers. “Carla’s work is incredibly feminine and beautiful, yet raw, strong and powerful, a combination that deeply resonates with our artistic practice,” Fried notes.

The collection translates Cascales Alimbau’s terracotta-washed paintings and poured resin forms into woven pieces using hand-knotted and flat-weave techniques. Each design evokes what the brand describes as the transient cycles of nature – from erosive wind and salt to the influence of sun and clouds. The color palette draws from earthy pigments including ochre, ivory and terracotta.

Three hand-knotted series anchor the collection. Marea features undulating wool pile heights intricately hand-carved to achieve smooth gradients, inspired by tidal patterns. Alma uses an ultra-low pile silk and wool blend that undergoes an oxidation process producing unique tonal variations, ensuring each rug is one-of-a-kind. Cirrus introduces pillowy wool piles rising above a lower base in organic banded rhythms.

Three flat-weave styles round out the offering. Aerie features a taut linen warp with alternating jute and wool-blend weft in a grid-like surface. Palloza presents tightly woven jute in a textural gridded pattern. Willow combines a linen warp with wool-jute blend weft, finished with extended loose tassels. Two new colorways – Kiln and Henna – have been added to the Willow design.

“Entwining Carla’s artistry with the profound skills of our artisan weavers, these highly sculptural and painterly pieces are artworks in their own right and deserve to be appreciated like fine art,” Fried adds.

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To mark the launch, Armadillo will host an immersive exhibition in Soho, New York from October 14-16, showcasing the Gaia collection rugs alongside a short film produced by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser (Dune, Zero Dark Thirty) and Cascales Alimbau’s artwork, which will be available for purchase.

“I’m drawn to natural materials, and the quiet strength that comes from paring things back and removing the superfluous to reveal the true essence of a piece,” Cascales Alimbau explains. “In this collection, every knot, every thread carries intention. Nothing was rushed, nothing was accidental.”

The Gaia collection is available now through Armadillo showrooms globally and online at armadillo-co.com.

Photography
Enric Badrinas
Jessie Prince