5VIE Design Week in Milan: Aida Mahmudova studio showcase, April 20 – 26, 2026
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Aida Mahmudova Studio is pleased to announce its inaugural presentation at 5VIE Design Week in Milan, Italy, featuring a special commission by Aida Mahmudova. The showcase centers on From the Elysium Series (2024–25), a body of three handwoven carpets (150 × 200 cm each), produced in collaboration with female artisans in three workshops in Nardaran, Shamkir, and Guba, Azerbaijan. The presentation is complemented by the ceramic series Beyond Utility (2024–2026).
Azerbaijan holds a distinguished and centuries-old tradition of carpet weaving, internationally recognized for its refined craftsmanship and distinctive aesthetic language. Azerbaijani carpets are defined by their flat, pictorial compositions, where the measured rhythm of ornamentation, the balance between central field and border, and the clarity of geometric motifs generate visual harmony. Despite their technical complexity, these works maintain a deliberately planar quality, privileging surface and pattern over illusionistic depth.
Mahmudova’s sustained engagement with material experimentation introduces a sculptural sensibility into this historic practice. By exploring layering, texture, and spatial intervention, she expands the formal and conceptual boundaries of textile art. In her hands, the carpet transcends its conventional function, emerging as a sculptural object — tactile, spatially responsive, and conceptually charged.
The ceramic works from Beyond Utility (2024–2026) mark the culmination of the artist’s ongoing experimental research in ceramic and glass processes. The pieces are finished with handmade glazes formulated from locally sourced Azerbaijani materials, including oil, ash, sand, clay, and stone. This materially grounded approach embeds the works within the physical landscape while producing surfaces that are singular and unpredictable.
Engaging both materiality and narrative, the series establishes a poetic dialogue between tradition and contemporary expression. Drawing upon her photographic archive of Azerbaijani landscapes, Mahmudova incorporates decal techniques to inscribe personal memories and stories onto the ceramic surfaces through photographs made by the artist. Through this process, ritualistic vessel forms are reimagined as intimate containers of memory. These vernacular structures embody the passage of time, functioning as symbolic markers that chart a deeply personal and reflective terrain.
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