Jordan Gogos is an Eora (Sydney) based, Greek-Australian, multidisciplinary artist and Powerhouse Museum creative resident, known for his textile art and object/furniture design. He is the founder and Creative Director of Iordanes Spyridon Gogos fashion label.
Gogos' works currently are in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Powerhouse Museum and the Gallery of South Australia. He is a contributor to Vogue and Harper’s BAZAAR.
In 2022, Gogos was named Channel 7 Young Achiever of the Year and GQ’s 2022 Creative Force Man Of The Year, and was awarded Honorary Mention for Sustainability at the 2024 National Designer Awards.
Pillowy Grass | Hand Tufted New Zealand Wool Blend | Collection by Jordan Gogos
Richard Whitbread Photography
Designer Rugs (DR): This debut features a collection of rugs that play with contrasting patterns and colour. What was your overall inspiration for the collection?
Jordan Gogos (JG): The collection directly references my signature art pieces and lasting styles. Works that are traditionally hung on a wall or exhibited in galleries and museums are now translated onto rug designs to add richness to any space. Shapes and forms incorporated into the collection are timeless - with organic placements created through elements of chance in my practice laying the foundation for a sense of ease. The collection marks key styles and patterns that are seen imbedded into practice across wall art and the fashion house, Iordanes Spyridon Gogos.
Midnight Lights (2023) is created through painting remnant tones of denim and painting both sides with metallic paint. The squares then fall organically on top of each other and are compressed by hand to create a shimmering pattern of midnight lights that hit the earths surface capturing glimmers of reflections and reflections that can only be seen at midnight.
DR: Can you share with us the influence behind your approach to your artist process and how it translates into the distinct designs for each rug?
JG: A lot of my work has variables of chance at play - when designing I create frameworks of what I want to exist within the work although the patterns fall into play through compounding and compression techniques allowing for organic patterns to emerge. I don’t like controlling every element of the work and intentionally utilise techniques that allow for the work to make sense of itself.
Scribbles & Mess (2023) is thread thrown down in balls and squiggled blurring each into one big mess!
JG: I find a lot of inspiration through what I can access or what is discarded and allow transforming things of no value into something that someone wants to treasure - a lot of things end up in landfill because people don’t find a use for it at the end of its lifecycle so I push the limits of material I find in order to make people see it differently - almost like using fabric remnants as paint - approaching the material in a different way to what it was once used.
This rug was inspired by a stack of balancing stones, or a cairn, which creates a natural sculptural form. The interplay of colours rendered in the gorgeous New Zealand wool palette creates a luxurious warmth to a room.
DR: What was your creative process when it came to creating these rug design?
JG: I had dived deep into the archive and found pillars of different approaches or key turning points in my creative process. Back in 2017, I was throwing down mediums onto paper, tearing it up and pasting it all over each other and similarly with fabric I am approaching fashion and art with similar approaches. I weaved new designs from my 2024 Fashion Show into the collection to show how fashion can be translated into rug designs, equally rug designs responding to worn artefacts.
DR: What do you think these rugs bring to a space?
JG: I’ve been obsessed with the term hedonic value since my early studies - it essentially means that when something makes the mind think or become curious, that same pattern or thought transfers to other things around it. For those who like minimalism, having a rug that provokes inspiration allows for you to see normal objects differently - if a white shirt was next to a square table you look at it as a white shirt. If a white shirt is next to a table that is fury, you want to be more inquisitive with the white shirt and inspect its finer details - it keeps the mind curious and stimulated!
Tear & Paste | Hand Tufted New Zealand Wool Blend | Collection by Jordan Gogos
Richard Whitbread Photography
DR: Which design is your favourite and why?
JG: Zebra Crossing - I love animalistic patterns as it feels very referential to pop culture that I’m on a personal level inspired by. I am vegan so being able to emulate rare animals with recycled material feels exciting to produce.
Zebra Crossing | Hand Tufted New Zealand Wool Blend | Collection by Jordan Gogos
Richard Whitbread Photography
Zebra Crossing (2023) is laying down fabric into strips of unusable fabric into strips and compressing it down. The fabric organically falls on top of each other mimicking the natural patterns of a zebra's skin.
The Jordan Gogos Collection is the first collaboration between Designer Rugs and Jordan Gogos. Explore the full collection now online or visit a Designer Rugs’ showroom in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland
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