This Georgian Designer Turns Traditional Carpets into Clothing

Jason Sargent Friday, February 27, 2026

Camille FreestoneFri, February 27, 2026 at 10:34 PM UTC

The Designer Turning Carpets into Clothing LAUNCHMETRICS SPOTLIGHT

Institution’s Galib Gassanoff limits his runway collections to 30 looks. For him, this isn’t the place to present commercial outerwear and wear-everywhere tailoring. The runway is a platform for ideas and stories. For his third runway collection, he continued his practice of elevating the traditional crafts and complex history of his birthplace, the Georgian village of Karajalar, to the fashion week stage.

This season, the 2026 LVMH Prize semifinalist employed Azerbaijani weavers (he is also of Azerbaijani descent) to apply their labor-intensive techniques of hand-knotting on a vertical loom to three special show pieces. You can easily spot them in the collection; Gassanoff doesn’t want to disguise their origins. He lets these carpets look like carpets even when wrapped around the model like a skirt and paired with a cardigan. Surrealist takes on craft continue to take center stage throughout the collection: double-faced wool shaped into sculptural outerwear and hand-stitched shoelaces that join together to create a skirt.

He’s exemplified this same ethos since founding Institution in 2024 after moving to Milan at 18 to study fashion. Prior collections include full skirts woven like baskets and shoelaces string tightly to mimic chunky knits. We spoke with Gassanoff ahead of his show at Milan Fashion Week. Ahead, the designer muses on his sources of inspiration for this collection, his place in the Italian city, and his hopes for the future of his brand.

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What can you tell me about this collection? What was your starting point?

The idea started building about nine months ago. I take inspiration from my childhood, from my roots. I'm from Georgia with Azerbaijani roots. That's where I began my research. I work with the community on textiles, specifically in rural areas where there is a tradition of carpet making. There will be three special pieces made in collaboration with these women in the traditional way, the same as it was done a hundred years ago. And I didn’t want to only take inspiration from them. The craft of making this kind of carpet is dying. To be able to collaborate with these makers, give them a way to express themselves as well as inspire newer generations to start learning this craft is important to me.

In the early 20th century, when Georgia and Azerbaijan gained their independence from the Russian Empire, it was the first democratic republic in the Caucasus. Women gained independence with the right to vote and to be elected to Parliament in 1918. It was really early, earlier than many European countries, for women to have this kind of freedom. It was also a time when religion became secondary, and liberation, freedom, and expression were at the forefront. There was a woman, Peri-Khan Sofiev, who is from my village, elected to the government at that time. The first Muslim woman ever elected democratically. I also wanted to tell her story. So my storyline for the collection is basically about that region, about the condition of the women, how they think, their lifestyle, and so on.

How does that come to fruition in the clothes themselves?

I love ethnography. I love the history of clothing. What I like about looking backward is that everything was natural. Everything was handmade, and craft was so important. Everyone associates this sort of craft with something dated, something historical, but I think it's becoming very rare. Many of us are starting to miss that human touch. I think that is something very special we need to consider protecting. It will be the ultimate luxury, in my opinion, because once it’s gone, it’s gone.

I place a lot of value on the fabrics themselves. I sketch, yes, but I also trace patterns, I cut fabric for dresses and different garments and most of them I tailor myself. I experiment with putting together historical and modern tailoring. I don't like to just reference a couple of things and then do something that is completely different. I like to be honest about what I'm referencing, to convey the history and craft behind it.

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You've done really cool shapes in your past two seasons. How do you think about draping fabric around a body?

I am quite passionate about distorting or modifying the shape, but not in a way that’s disturbing. I usually try to over-exaggerate maybe the shoulders or the hips. Growing up, there were sculptures leftover from our time under the Soviet Union that usually depicted a woman’s body in a manner that is quite structured with metal or with concrete. I'm definitely a little bit influenced by that. But other than that, there are shapes that are really informed by the fabrics we use.

I work with the shapes that the material gives me. When I collaborate with the communities, I don't push them to make something specific. They send me some photos or I see something when I visit. We say, “Can you make this bigger? Can you make this smaller?” And so on. After that shape arrives, we see what we can do with it. But it's their contribution.

How are you holding your runway show this season?

I always want to step up, but I don't want to overdo it. I don't have pressure from any outside investors looking for commercial success or fast growth at the moment, so I have a freedom of creativity. Even though it's difficult, I'm really happy doing it this way. I'm happy to be able to develop freely with these rigid, heavy fabrics that I use. And I can do my shapes and no one will tell me to do a lighter version to sell it. Of course, we have parts of the collection with coats, dresses, etc. that can be easily wearable every day, but it's not usually the focus on the runway because I limit it to 30 looks to tell the story properly. This season, the collection is mainly about those craftswomen that I work with. The expectations are high this time, so let's see how it'll go.

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What's it like to be working and showing in Milan right now?

It's not easy in Milan because there is not much space for the younger generation. Everyone is quite concentrated on big names because there are many big-name establishments that do huge shows with commercial stakes. Also, everything is done really slowly here, but you get used to it. Other than that, it's amazing that you have access to a huge textile industry with people who are able to make incredible things. Everyone comes here to do their samples, to do their collections. You can find anything—artisans, fabrics, factories—and that is a huge plus.

What are your hopes for your brand? What do you want from it?

Ideally, I would love to be able to express myself and continue to be able to collaborate with these communities. But my biggest dream is to be able to continue making limited amounts and selling made-to-order. This is a system that I started in my way of working, working with traditional techniques, lots of handmade pieces—to produce less of something that has extreme value. These clothes become collectible pieces. I would love to be able to expand this a little more so that the brand can sustain itself and be able to sustain the communities that I work with. And I’d like to be able to expand into other regions. At the moment, I'm working with Azerbaijan because it’s home, but I would love to explore Central Asia, to explore the Balkans, and beyond. I think what we do now is quite organic. It's challenging, absolutely, but it's very valuable. I believe that it can be an alternative future.

Photo credit: LAUNCHMETRICS SPOTLIGHT

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