Ethical rugs championed by students

When you buy a rug you don't think who made it, do you? It's the beauty of the design, the combination of colours, the soft, luxurious feel that matters, and then you try and visualise it in the room you have in mind and probably check the price fits your budget. You may note where the rug was made, but not many consumers in the UK would think to question who made the rug, if they were a child in bonded slave labour, if they were fpaid, if they had enough to eat, anywhere to sleep, did they go to school...



Weaving designer rugs © Romano

 We are conditioned to keep to the safe questions, but fortunately GoodWeave, the international rug labelling scheme, is working to eradicate illegal child labour and is raising awareness of the issues, with the UK's young designers of tomorrow. Its latest initiative is a national rug design competition aimed at design and textiles undergraduate students. This is the 4th consecutive year the competition has been run and looks set for an unprecendented number of entries. Closing date for entries is May 20th and full details of the competition are available from http://www.goodweave.org.uk/

Thanks to sponsors Wovenground.com and Jacaranda Carpets GoodWeave UK has been able to provide informative Tutor Packs this year, not only teaching students about the different weaving techniques used in the making of rugs, but also bringing to their attention the plight of the children in India and Nepal, forced to work for up to 16 hours a day and often 6 or 7 days a week to make beautiful rugs, which are then sold for hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds in the UK.

Zixi Qu's winning design 2010

Buying a GoodWeave labelled rug is the only assurance we can have, as consumers, that we are not contributing to the despair of thousands of children.  We have the buying power to force the rug producers to pay adults a fair wage to do a traditional and highly skilled job, so that they can keep their children safe, fed and sheltered. 

Let's hope our young designers coming out of university have a more developed ethical conscience than previous generations, when they start work. Creating beautiful rugs should never ever be at the expense of children.

For further informatld exploitation in the rug industry, take a look at the video below.

Making a smart entrance



Door thresholds so often look tatty



I've recently been looking at door thresholds - the metal door strip you tend to find across the join in your floor, across a doorway.  There are various variations on a theme, which can be referred to as Z bars, door thresholds or cover plates, and there are some really tatty ones around! In fact, since I first noticed how bent and cheap they can look, they now seem to stand out like a soar thumb, wherever I go - whether I'm in a hotel, school, office, friend's home, show house ...my eyes automatically fix on the door joins!

So often I see a stunning, new carpet, which has cost a fortune and is well fitted, and then spot the door joint in the doorway, all bashed up and dented...

It's a real shame, as there are a few really nice alternatives in the marketplace, but you don't tend to get offered them in carpet shops very often. I do like the solid brass ones you can get from CAT and Stairrods (UK), such as the Posh, which comes with decorative or plain inset. 

Posh in Polished Brass

The Posh is available in polished brass or antique brass and two widths to cater for different doorway depths - you tend to find the doorways in older houses are deeper and require the 55mm version, whereas for most modern houses the 38mm option is fine.  They come in two standard lengths 81cms (32")  or 91cms (36"), but we also find customers find the longer 2.74m (108") version useful for large double doors or for connecting open plan areas.






Joints in satin brass finish



A cheaper, but still stylish, option is Joints, which are made from tough aluminium and then coated in a variety of metal finishes - they are not so sturdy as the solid brass options but still look very smart and have an inset strip, so you don't see the fixing screws.  


It's so often the little things which make a big difference...

Young talent shines out at show

I visited the Interiors 2011 show at the NEC a few days ago - just to see what was new and if there was anything relevant for our Carpetrunners website. Not much joy there but I did come across some fabulous student work, particularly on the newdesignbritain stand, which is a national competition and is judged by a panel drawn from high street names such as Heal's and M&S.

Whilst the Newdesignbritain area seemed rather dull and lifeless, some of the individual work was interesting. I personally liked Jessica Penrose's design in the rug competition area, which treated the rug more like a canvas than a floor covering. 


Design by Elaine Ng Yan Ling

I then came across Elaine Ng Yan Ling's work, which had such fabulous warmth and texture, and which I just loved



For those specifiers and designers looking for innovative surface designs, then Graphic Relief Ltd proved to be a honeypot. The innovative forces are Eric Barrett and Mark Dale, who have come up with a way to manufacture moulds with amazingly fine surface detail, photo quality,which would seem to have a myriad of potential applications.  On the stand the company was demonstrating the technique via a number of large size, decorated concrete panels, including a wonderful detailed image of a face, which caught the light. The applications must be numerous, from large size pictures in feature hallways, through to cladding on external walls.

And finally, Penelope Jordan was exhibiting felt pictures, which she had designed and made by hand.  Mind-bogglingly repetitive, there was something I found mesmerising about them - the perfect distraction for the active mind.  I'm not sure where I'd put one in my home but I wish my dentist would buy one!

Stair clips for period staircases

Victorian Stair Clip

I recently had a chap on the 'phone, who was trying to please his wife, but was not convinced she was correct - could we provide some professional advice, which might persuade her?  

She had read an article, which said that stair clips are the authentic "look" for a staircase, in a period property, and therefore she had decided that this is what she would like in their Victorian town house - just clips and nothing else! Well, that was until their carpet fitter informed her that she'd need more than a couple of clips, if she didn't want to fall down the stairs...

So, did we sell stair clips, which were sturdy enough to hold the carpet in place on the staircase? I think he was actually quite relieved, when I explained that today all stair clips and stair rods are decorative, although originally they were used to hold your runner in place. But, they weren't particularly secure and stair runners did slip down the staircase, over time, and got rucks in them, which you could easily trip over.  Today we use gripper instead, on the tread and the riser, which is totally secure and invisible.

He ordered a set of our stair clips in antique brass, which are Fleur de lys in design, and evidently reflect the design of their curtain rail finials. The clips are made from solid brass, and therefore provide the "authentic" look his wife was after, and work on a hinge: simply push the front clip part up, in order to screw them into the staircase and then push the clip down, over the front of the carpet.

Much relieved he rang off - I hope his wife likes them!



Ethical rugs attract top designers

I've recently been doing some work with GoodWeave, the charity which aims to eradicate illegal and exploitative child labour in the rug industry.  I mention it to friends and the reaction tends to be: "surely that doesn't still go on does it?" Well, yes it does, and, if anything, is on the increase as rug sales have slumped in the West during the recession and manufacturers and weavers, out in places such as India and Nepal, are under pressure to save money. Bonded child slave labour is nothing new in the rug industry...

But fortunately the concept of GoodWeave is catching on with top rug Designers in the UK, who are signing up and taking a stance.

Basically, GoodWeave runs an independent inspection scheme, which means local inspectors turn up at manufacturers and home weaving looms, out in India and Nepal, completely unannounced and inspect the premises looking for child labour. Only rugs from certified manufacturers are allowed to be exported with the GoodWeave label on them, which is the one way consumers in the UK can be sure they are purchasing an ethically produced rug - simply turn it over and look for the GoodWeave label. GoodWeave then funds education for rescued children and supports community health programmes and environmental initiatives to support the weaving communities.

The good news is that an increasing number of leading names in the UK rug industry have signed up to support GoodWeave and now commission or sell GoodWeave labelled rugs.  Respected rug retailers and designers such as Knots Rugs, Bazaar Velvet, Deirdre Dyson, WovenGround.com, Rug-maker.com and Jacaranda all sell GoodWeave labelled rugs and there are some amazing designs.

And we are talking beautiful, soft wools and silks hand-knotted in the most beautiful designs and colours - forget your smelly, inferior quality, rustic yarns in various colours of brown, which traditionally used to be associated with anything "ethical"! This is one of Rimo's designs 122-01, which is a favourite of mine.

It is also encouraging to see new Designer Liz Eeuwes signing up to the GoodWeave initiative too. 

There is hope!

Skirting Skiffers for the period home

The new Skirting Skiffers, which protect your skirting board corners, are a great hit - I think a few are even finding their way into stockings this Christmas, judging by the telephone call I took from a customer yesterday.  They are such a simple idea, but really do the business and you can put them all over the house - providing your skirting is loosely at a right angle!

I know you are meant to fit them, when you've just freshly painted and your skirting looks pristine, but they are also great at covering up marked and scruffy skirting - a brilliant quick fix!

They are particularly designed for the period property, being relatively ornate, and will complement other decorative accessories you may have in the home, such as finger plates or door handles. But, if you do have a modern house and want to create that "period" charm, then Skiffers are certainly a great starting point, as they do add a lovely decorative feature and yet are very practical too. I've noticed customers are tending to buy them in quantities of four or six and antique brass is the finish of choice.

Skiffers are one of those style ideas, which we'll soon think has been around for ever, and we'll be wondering what we did before they came along. They are dead simple to fit too - yes, anyone with a screwdriver will be able to fix these in place.  Made of solid brass they withstand no end of bashing by the hoover, suitcases, the childrens' toys etc. and so protect your paint or woodwork beneath, from chipping. I understand some guest houses and restaurants are now fitting them too.

I did get asked the other day, if they need polishing, as the lady thought that as they are brass they would automatically need Brasso or something similar. What a nightmare!  Thank goodness, the answer is no, as they have a protective coating on them, which means they just need dusting, along with the skirting boards.

So, if you are looking for a last minute stocking filler, then a Skiffer to two may be the answer!

Watch Kirstie for some great ideas

I've been catching up recently on some back programmes of Kirstie's Homemade Home on Channel 4 (Tuesday at 8pm) and came across the one about the Victorian heap in Wolverhampton, with a truly dingy staircase. I must admit I've warmed to Kirstie - she does give an insight into some long-forgotten crafts and is prepared to have a go herself.  I was particularly impressed that she decided to fit proper, solid brass stair rods on the renovated staircase, which just looked fabulous against the Crucial Trading stair runner.

The rods she chose were the Premier Hanover, which are a classic design made by Stairrods (UK), with a smart pencil finial (end).  In polished brass finish they contrasted well with the dark wood staircase, but we also sell them in a variety of other finishes including the more contemporary satin brass, and chrome, satin nickel, black, antique brass and pewter.

Some home owners do not realise that you don't have to have the latest trendy runner to fit stair rods - if you have a fitted carpet then just select the FRONT FIX or SIDE FIX stair rod options, when you have chosen the design you like.  The front fix option has a different style of bracket, but looks almost exactly like a runner stair rod, whereas the side fix ones, just attach to your stringboard. I didn't spot Kirstie actually fitting them, on the programme, but it is simple, so long as you can use a screwdriver.

This is an example of a side fix Premier rod on a traditional Persian style carpet. Even a tired old carpet can be pepped up with a smart set of stair rods, and give it a new lease of life. And customers are always so relieved when they discover that each rod is lacquered, so that you don't even have to clean them, just a quick wipe down, now and then, and that's it!

So, if you are inspired to have a go at transforming your staircase with stair rods, in time for Christmas, then don't leave it too long, as most of them are made-to-measure and take at least a week to send out.