Interview with cc-tapis

We were enchanted by the wide range of colours and natural materials that cc-tapis bring with their creations. Their unique collections boast over 1200 different colors and natural materials like wool Himalayan, silk and hemp.
cc-tapis choice is to take distance from mass production, whilst giving the client the possibility to customize the desired rug in colour and size without the use of chemicals, acids or artificial fibers.

We interviewed their founders to bring you their unique story.

Tell us the story of cc-tapis:

cc-tapis was founded by Nelcya Chamszadeh and Fabrizio Cantoni who met whilst studying together at Hotel School in Switzerland.
After gratuating they moved to Rapallo in Italy where they started working in the hotel business for a couple of years.
When the decided to start a family together they made the choice to change their line of work and moved to Strasbourg, France, where Nelcya’s father had a Persian rug store.
They learned the business from her father studying the history, tradition, techniques and quality of hand-knotted rugs.
Both are passionate about design and art and they began creating their own designs and contemporary colour combinations, producing unique, one of a kind pieces under the name cc-tapis, the 2 c’s being Chamszadeh and Cantoni.

What began as experimentation grew as the couple started producing custom pieces for architects.
Through their combined passion for design they had found something unique and original and decided to develop their business into a proper brand.
They moved to Milan, where they could launch their brand on a world stage and have exposure to international designers and architects.
Fabrizio attended and completed a Masters in Interior Design at the Scuola Politecnica di Design where he met Daniele Lora, who is now the art-Director of the company.
After graduating they developed the brand and opened the first cc-tapis store in Brera. The rest is history.

cc-tapis collaborates with various designers, combining innovation and modernity with traditional know-how. What makes your products truly unique and special?

Asking what makes our products unique and special is a huge compliment.
We are very passionate about what we make and it is wonderful when other people recognise that.
I think what makes our rugs special is the creative dialogue and the collaborative process which goes into each piece.
We work with designers who may not have or have never worked within the world of rugs before.
This means they come to us with fresh ideas and concepts which we develop together, sharing the wealth and richness of Tibetan craftsmanship, taking months to develop samples of new blends, knots and textures.
This combination cultivates innovation combining contemporary ideas with traditional and ancient production methods.
Once a rug is in production it takes up to 16 weeks to complete and the result is a truly unique artisanal product.

Can you describe the main steps in the creation of one of your pieces?

As I mentioned before the process is a very long and intricate one.
Everything is done by hand: the natural materials such as Himalayan wool, pure silk, linen and nettle fibre are hand carded and then hand spun into yarn, we can create extremely fine yarn or thick and textured yarn depending on the needs of the client.
After that the yarns are dyed by hand and then sent to the homes of our weavers.
The knotting is done at home, as it has always been done in Tibetan culture. The weavers follow intricate maps detailing which materials and colors to use.
After the weaving is completed the rugs are sent back to our atelier where they are finished, which is when the different pile heights are cut, details are embossed and the rugs are bound, all by hand.
They are then washed, stretched and left to dry in the Himalayan sun before being shipped world wide.

What are your plans for the future?

cc-tapis is constantly creating, we are prolific in our collaborations and we are consistently working on new designs.
Sometimes we are criticized for the amount of new work we launch and the speed at which we do it but the creative urge is stronger than us, there’s nothing we can do about it.
We have big plans and big collaborations planned for the future, it’s difficult to mention only one but something which should be mentioned and which is completely new (and still a bit of a secret) is that we have been working hard over the past year developing a new contract sector for hotels and boutiques. I can’t divulge much more, but keep an eye out for that.