Persian rug company Golran has commissioned London studio Raw Edges to create carpets with patterns that appear to change when viewed from different angles (+ slideshow).Persian rug company Golran has commissioned London studio Raw Edges to create carpets with patterns that appear to change when viewed from different angles (+ slideshow).

Titled The Lake, the op-art rug collection by Raw Edges was launched in Milan earlier this year.

"Imagine a rug that looks very vivid and colourful when you leave home, but the very same rug will appear more relaxing and calming when coming back from work," said Raw Edges founders Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay.

"It is like having two approaches for one thing, two different ways to look at it, but then when standing at the right place, you see the whole picture," they explained.

"This may sound like illusion confusion but it is all based on existing op-art lenticular technique that, thanks to Golran, and their craftsmen in Nepal, has been translated into marvellous rug making."

Varying pile height throughout the rug means that colours are perceived differently depending on the viewer's vantage point, appearing more intense from one end and more muted from the other. The full pattern only reveals itself from one specific position.

"The collection, conceived as second reading of the persian rug, takes its inspiration from the lenticular Israeli artist Yaacov Agam who, together with Victor Vasarely, revolutionised the world of optic perception in art," said the designers.

The rugs are hand-knotted from silk and wool in Nepal. The first collection is based on traditional kilim – flat tapestry-woven carpets or rugs – and available in four colours: grey, red, blue and green.