Faig Ahmed's incredible thread installation re-imagines Azerbajani craft

Who’s your favourite Azerbajani artist? What none at all? Wow, good job we’re here then – or rather good job Faig Ahmed’s here – with his insanely good thread pieces. He makes some pretty mind-bending carpets but it was his Thread Installation that absolutely blew us way.

Reinterpreting and remaining the traditional carpet manufacturing craft of his homeland, it’s hard to know whether the threads are jumping out from the intricate patterns or shooting up to the walls to create them. This modern twist on ancient skills is really beguiling, and though the construction may be delicate, the impact is massively powerful. Of his work, Faig says: “I’m harried by a question others have left in childhood – ‘What is inside?.’  That’s why I’m changing habitual and visually static objects making them spatial, giving them a new depth,” trying to reveal their inner essence.

And now you’ll never be embarrassed at a Baku dinner party again.