Persian Cat - Tee

A Cat, a Carpet, and Its Medallion

A medium-weight cotton tee with a long-haired cat sitting exactly where every cat sits — in the middle of the good carpet.

The front is the scene. The back lifts one element out of it and lets it stand alone, so the two placements work as a single piece of design rather than a graphic with a spare print on the reverse.

The star medallion at the centre of a Persian carpet is called a toranj, and it came into weaving from bookbinding — Safavid workshops adapted the illuminated central panel of a manuscript cover onto the loom. Everything else in the field is arranged around it. The cat, of course, has no interest in this and has parked directly on top of it.

The Design Vision

• The cat, unbothered: Rendered with real coat texture against the warm reds and golds of the rug, so fur and weave read as two different surfaces rather than one flat illustration.

• The toranj, isolated: The back carries the star medallion pulled cleanly out of the carpet beneath the cat — the same motif, given room to be looked at properly.

• Symmetry as the argument: The back print keeps the exact radial balance of the woven original, which is the whole discipline of the form.

• Front and back as one object: Scene on one side, detail on the other. The design assumes you'll be seen coming and going.

Centuries of symmetry. One cat, directly on the middle of it.