In the June heat at Mushk Cafe, a rooftop cafe in Old Delhi, artists worked on scaffolding, fixing a carpet to the ceiling. Nearby, designs, cut from carpets, were being fitted on the cafe’s walls. It was an unusual sight – after all, a carpet belongs to the floor.The installations were one of the projects undertaken by Qaleen Bhaiyya, a small studio in the busy Okhla market, which turns carpets into wall and ceiling installations, mirror frames and artworks. Its pieces are combined with calligraphy, paintings and gold detailing, often designed for a particular space.“When we opened the store in February last year, we started out as a small store in the basement. Then we moved to a bigger store on the ground floor before moving into this store. We did not want it to be just another carpet and rug store,” says 30-year-old Taha Khan.Taha, who studied law before joining the business, points to a carpet on one of the walls of his office. It has been redesigned as a map of Afghanistan, with Urdu verses embossed on it.“Kashmiri carpets came to Kashmir from Iran and still carry Persian influences,” says Taha, pointing to the Persian influence that runs through the work. Outside his office room, professionally cut pieces of a carpet have been used around a mirror on the wall.The studio uses imported Iranian carpets for many of its artworks, particularly because of their intricate detailing. One carpet depicting the Kaaba, for instance, costs around Rs 3 lakh as a raw carpet and took nearly a year to hand-weave. According to Taha, the studio only curate carpets that are distinct and unique.For framed calligraphic works, the studio does not rely on printed lettering. “The calligraphy is handwritten by the calligraphers in our team, which is then converted into digital files and printed onto fine MDF (Medium-Density Fiberboard) or HDMR (High-Density Moisture Resistant) boards. These are cut using CNC machines and used in the final artwork,” Taha says.Story continues below this adThe core artists who make these pieces came together almost by chance.Manaal (24), an illustrator and graphic artist, first came to the studio as a customer after finding it on Instagram. “After my first visit, I kept coming back. I was thinking of trying something different,” she says. She is now one of the team’s main painters.Calligrapher Abdu Rahman approached the studio for work after seeing its stall at a Jamia Millia Islamia fest. He later brought in Ruqayya (23), who had been learning Tazhib – a traditional decorative art form that involves hand-painting and gilding of manuscripts, calligraphic texts, and miniatures with intricate gold and colorful patterns – since she was young.Tazhib is central to the visual identity of the team. “Though in the actual Tazhib artworks, real gold is used for gilding, we use gold foils instead. We use acrylic colours to paint on the wall as it dries quickly and we can mix it well,” Ruqayya says. Both Manaal and Ruqayya studied Applied Arts at Jamia.Story continues below this ad“None of this was planned. We are just some like-minded people who love art and create something different,” Taha says.Much of the work is created for a particular space. “Once we see the work site, ideas are discussed and developed. If there is any mistake or there is something we don’t like, we paint it over and redo it. The freedom to work at our pace is very important to us,” Taha says.For wall and ceiling installations, the process is more measured. “The surface is first measured and a sketch prepared. The carpet is then cut according to the design, its exact position marked on the wall or ceiling. Adhesive is applied to both surfaces before the carpet is bonded into place,” says Abdu.The Mushk Cafe project was particularly demanding. Manaal spent hours on the scaffolding. “I wanted to give up halfway, but we wanted to prove we could think out-of-the-box and complete the project,” says Manaal.Story continues below this adThe team’s growing reach has largely been driven by social media. Instagram has brought the studio clients from across India and abroad. Its framed works have gone to the US, Canada, France and Australia, while site projects have taken the team to Hyderabad, Kolkata and Surat.Yet, Taha does not appear interested in making this a mass-market operation. The studio sees limited reach as a way of protecting the work’s character.