And carpets have eyes, or Ian Yushin's Wool Bestiary

If your childhood coincided with the fashion for carpets, then you probably considered the fancy colored patterns decorating the wall before going to bed. The artist and designer from Kharkov, Yan Yushin, was also among such "contemplators", but unlike others, he did not forget a childhood hobby, but gave him life in his project. Jan finds monsters in carpet ornaments and collects them into the world's only "Carpet Bestiary".

Jan is interested in old Soviet carpets, which can still be found in the vast expanses of the CIS countries. The artist carefully studies the patterns on them and finds strange creatures and monsters. After that, it remains only to transfer them to paper, give them a name and make a description.

Yushin publishes stories of "carpet beasts" on his Instagram, and this summer an artbook was released in which the artist introduces the world to the best of his works.

And it all started a few years ago, one might say, by accident. Yang Yushin himself describes it like this:

But do not think that Jan jumped up at the same moment and started working on a new project. For almost six years, he did not think about carpet monsters, as the idea, in his opinion, was superficial. In addition, Yushin was sure that someone had already done something similar and the secret carpet life would not be interesting to anyone.

The artist remembered about carpets only during the pandemic, when he was forced to sit on self-isolation. Jan tried to find similar projects on the web, but, to his surprise, he did not find any. There was enough free time and he launched his project "Carpet Bestiary".

Jan was looking for the first monsters on the carpets of his grandmother, friends and acquaintances. When the material for the work was over, he and his wife started going to carpet shops, hoping to find inspiration there. But it turned out that modern carpets are unable to shelter strange creatures in their patterned wilds – they were beautiful, but completely lifeless.

Unexpectedly, Yushin's Instagram followers came to his aid. They started sending him photos of their carpets and even ready-made ideas. The work began to boil again and soon there was enough work for a full-fledged artbook. The circulation of a unique book is quite small and this is natural for a unique publication. Each copy of the "Carpet Bestiary" is enclosed in a red velvet cover with embossed and stitched with threads.

The first 100 copies of the artbook were sold out in just a month and now Yan Yushin is preparing for the release of the second edition, already with a circulation of 200 copies. The secret of the high demand for a very unusual book, the author explains simply:

After the release of the artbook, Yan and his wife tried to create author's carpets themselves and they succeeded! The artist, using his extensive experience in working with ornaments, draws sketches, and his wife brings them to life. It turns out very beautiful and mystical things, quite unlike either Soviet or modern carpet products.

Now Jan is thinking about launching his own line of "carpet merch", for example, bright sweatshirts with embroidery. Yushin's work helps him in his work – he is responsible for brand design in one of the major IT companies, and in addition creates posters and covers for musicians. Among his regular customers are Anacondaz, "Leather Deer" and Noize MC.