Contemporary tapestry art both builds on and transcends those famously hand-knotted Medieval unicorns surrounded by fields of flowers that adorned castles and homes. A collection of tapestries -- images produced from paintings specifically created for that purpose -- will be on display this week as a satellite of Design Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach.

The exhibition, called Demons, Yarns & Tales, features subjects that range from the alphabet to a 19th Century lynching of a black child. The artists are American, Pakistani, British, Egyptian, Iranian and Brazilian.

In a work by British painter Grayson Perry called Vote Alan Measles for God, a teddy bear named Alan Measles is surrounded by symbols of Mideast violence: machine guns, helicopters, knives, explosions. The design is based on Afghanistan war rugs made during the 1970s when that country was occupied by the Russians.

''The teddy bear is in the center of all this chaos, and you can't tell if he's causing the chaos or redeeming it,'' said Christopher Sharp, co-owner of The Rug Company and co-creator of the tapestry project.

The tapestries collectively were commissioned more than three years ago by Sharp and his wife Suzanne, who called their commissioning organization Banners of Persuasion. The results drew positive reviews when the exhibition opened last month in London. None of the artists had designed tapestries before.

Sharp said, however, ``We have been dabbling with making tapestries for a long time. In the Renaissance, they were a collaboration between artists and tapestry workshops. I thought it would be a fabulous experience to recreate that relationship.''

PRODUCED IN CHINA

The couple, who established a London rug gallery 10 years ago, arranged for the tapestries to be produced in China north of Shanghai, then they approached artists. ''We spent a lot of time thinking about whose work might translate well,'' Sharp said. ``And we ended up with a list of 14. We have a mix of established artists and newcomers.''

Two of the tapestries are in shades of gray. One is by American artist Kara Walker, who is famous for her large exhibitions of silhouettes depicting African-American history; she received a MacArthur Genius Award in 1997.

Walker's work, A Warm Summer Evening in 1863, ''is about slavery and oppression,'' Sharp said. ``She found a lithograph of an orphanage being burned to the ground by Irish rioters. As the children came running out, guys were there with sticks and beat them. She has [imposed on top of the lithograph] a silhouette of a child being hung.''

An opposite feeling is achieved by another American artist, Fred Tomaselli, with birds and flowers with silver and gold threads. The five-foot-eight tapestry is called After Migrant Fruit Thugs. The avian ''thugs'' are actually lovely, in shades of red and purple.

Each of the works took from four to 12 months to be woven.

''When they started coming back, the artists were really, really pleased,'' Sharp said.

Five copies of each rug will be produced. Some were sold during the London exhibition, but works will be available for the Miami show, although there is a delay for the time it takes to weave them. Prices range from $25,000 to $150,000.

The most surprising result, said Sharp, was created by Paul Noble. The 15-by-15-foot work in 60 shades of gray shows shapes resembling Henry Moore figures. It took a year to knot.

''For us to make, it was a nightmare,'' Sharp said. 'When dying wool, it's hard to get even shades of a color, especially gray. Eventually we got there, but there were times I felt like saying, `Forget it.' ''

The Sharps have lived ''all over the world,'' he said, returning to London from Malta when their four children were ready for school. Throughout their travels, they collected rugs, and when they landed in London, they found ''the rug business was in a real mess. We thought there was a market for a beautiful shop with good retail practices and things that are priced properly,'' Sharp said.

DESIGN DISTRICT

The company has offices in Los Angeles and New York and is opening a store in Miami's Design District with the Design Miami launch.

''The economy is not great,'' Sharp said, ``but from the bigger point of view, it's a good time to be growing.''

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