6. Creative Process: AHA Collective

AHA Collective & the 2025 Red Carpet Project by Eloi Chafaï and Jean-François Dingjian

At the invitation of the 22nd Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, AHA Collective continues its exploration of cultural memory and material storytelling through the red carpet as a symbolic platform. Founded and curated by Nairi Khatchadourian, AHA is a multidisciplinary initiative that integrates contemporary design, heritage craft, and regenerative futures.

This year's edition is created in collaboration with French designers Eloi Chafaï and Jean-François Dingjian, co-founders of Normal Studio, whose practice brings together material intelligence, functionality, and social relevance. Together, they reimagine the red carpet not as an ornament, but as a data-rich surface, carrying stories, place-based knowledge, and craft lineage.

Chafaï and Dingjian are known for their ability to translate industrial materials and traditional techniques into meaningful objects that communicate quietly but powerfully. Their work aligns seamlessly with AHA’s vision of design as a narrative tool. For this project, their design is not only visual but indexical—rooted in Armenian landscapes, topographies, and shared memory systems that could one day be stored and verified on-chain. From the selection of wool to the handwoven process, every step is intentional and traceable.

Handcrafted by women weavers from Goris Handmade and Woolway Studio, the carpet serves as a physical and cultural artefact, rich with potential for digital provenance. Each thread carries the possibility of embedded metadata—material source, artisan profile, geographic coordinates, and cultural references—enabling future integration with Digital Product Passports and blockchain systems. The red carpet becomes more than a ceremonial object; it becomes a vessel for decentralised storytelling, allowing festival audiences and global viewers to trace the social, environmental, and creative journeys embedded in its weave. What was once walked across can now be read, remembered, and verified.

Nairi Khatchadourian, Eloi Chafaï and Jean-François Dingjian

Photo credits: Piruza Khalapyan