Exhibition Details

Charles Burnand Gallery presents The Ground of Things, a new exhibition by American, Kent-based artist Dawn Bendick, launching as part of London Craft Week (May 11 – 17, 2026). Marking a pivotal expansion of Bendick’s practice into textile, the exhibition introduces her first body of rugs, developed in close collaboration with New York–based carpet and tapestry specialists FJ Hakimian and realised by master artisans in Nepal.
Best known for her sculptural glass works, Bendick brings the same intensity, precision and chromatic control to textiles. Her rugs translate a sculptural way of thinking into woven form, works that occupy the ground while retaining a strong sense of volume, rhythm and presence. Developed alongside her kiln-formed glass sculptures, the rugs explore a dialogue between materials: glass absorbing and refracting light while wool and silk respond through their own luminous qualities. Rather than functioning as accessories to the sculptures, the rugs operate as equal agents within the work, grounding the pieces physically and conceptually.
“Textile has always been part of how I think," Bendick explains. "From fashion and interiors to digital sound and animation, I’ve long been interested in materials that move, shift and respond. Working with rugs has allowed me to bring that sense of motion and structure into something grounded, a surface that holds colour, light and time. In this work, the rugs and the glass sculptures inform one another, both materials responding to light in different ways.”
Bendick’s engagement with textiles spans early studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, work within the fashion and interiors industries and later experimentation with digital media. This trajectory led her to the Material Futures programme at Central Saint Martins, where she began working with light, programming and glass, developing her now-signature use of dichroic materials. The Ground of Things draws these threads together, positioning textile not as a departure, but as a natural extension of her sculptural practice.
Alongside the rugs, the exhibition includes several new kiln-formed glass sculptures, the medium through which Bendick’s visual language first developed. Produced in England in collaboration with specialist kiln-forming experts, Max Jacquard Glass Studio, these works provide the sculptural context from which the rug forms originate, allowing the exhibition to trace the translation of Bendick’s thinking across glass and textile.
The collaboration with FJ Hakimian plays a central role in translating Bendick’s sculptural language into textile. With over five decades of expertise spanning antique carpets, early twentieth-century design and custom handmade rugs, FJ Hakimian provides both technical and historical grounding for the project. Working through their Custom Carpets programme, the rugs are produced by a Tibetan rug-making workshop in Nepal, operating within a lineage rooted in Tibetan weaving traditions that developed following Tibetan migration to Nepal in the mid-20th century.
Roxanne Hakimian, Creative Director of FJ Hakimian, comments, “What drew us to working with [Bendick] was the clarity of her vision. Her understanding of colour and form translates beautifully into textiles. The process became a true dialogue—between studio and loom, sculpture and surface, contemporary thinking and deeply rooted craft traditions.”
Using traditional techniques such as Senneh looping, high-altitude Tibetan sheep wool, silk and small-batch pot dyeing, the workshop brings exceptional depth and precision to each piece. The four rugs presented in the exhibition are made from wool and silk and produced through a meticulous, multi-stage process involving many skilled hands, under recognised ethical and sustainability standards, including GoodWeave certification.
The rugs are presented across two distinct groupings. The Rock Rugs, developed specifically for The Ground of Things at Charles Burnand Gallery and never previously exhibited, are offered as open editions. This group includes the Time Rock Stack Rug, available exclusively in the colourways shown and the Time Rock Boulder Rug, available to order in three additional colourways developed in response to season and location. ARS wool and silk poms will be available on site to support material and colour reference.
A second group of works, the Dawn Bendick x FJ Hakimian Rugs—including Pond and Gradated Pavers—are new additions to FJ Hakimian’s line of Tibetan wool and silk rugs and are available to order as presented.