For a handful of cultures around the globe, the Arab world among them, tucking into one is a lineal link that offers a sense of belonging even from a distance. Their often large-scale patterns, which play out in a spectrum of colors, conjure visions of thick, richly hued Persian rugs that line family homes from wall to wall, or of brightly colored fabrics blowing in open-air markets (a knowing wink between those who get it).
Their warmth — they’re most often made of a hypersoft polyester fabric called minky that is largely used for baby products — is rivaled only by their distinct appearance and softness for many of those who adore them.
“I think they’re beautiful objects,” Farah Al Qasimi, a Lebanese Emirati artist based in New York, recently told me. She has about 10 blankets and is always open to collecting more. Stretched across her bed is one that evokes watercolor blooms — the blanket is splashed in pinks, blues, greens; it’s topped with matching (but not too matchy) pillowcases. There’s a pile of them in her studio forming what she called a “blanket nest” for her and her dog to sink into.
“When I sit on one, I feel like I’m falling into a mystical garden,” she said. “It’s like a warm hug from an angel.”
Full article here on The New York Times.
