Blueprint
What is your company's ethos?
To make the most beautiful, original and ethical handmade rugs.
When is the right moment for a new product?
It's a very intuitive process. If you are true to your instincts you have a better chance of making the right choices. We know when something is interesting, challenging and original and when we are being tempted to Launch products for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time. It's essential to balance financial and artistic value.
Which designers do you work with?
We have worked with more than 40 different designers. We are currently doing new collections with Paul Smith, Alexander McQueen, Tom Dixon, Jaime Hayon, and Giles Deacon.
How do you decide which designer to commission?
Suzanne and I need to believe that they will bring something that is innovative and original to our existing collections; unless they can, irrespective of who they are, we're not interested. Handmade rugs are incredibly durable, so I like to remind them that their rugs will be part of their enduring legacy so they need to be extraordinarily good.
What is the first step in commissioning a new product?
Discussion. We know a bit about making rugs so we start by explaining the process and available materials. We want to talk about possibilities rather than limitations; we want the designer to feel unrestricted by the medium. The more we engage, the more imaginative the ideas will be. It's a journey. Often, the longer the journey, the better the story.
How does the briefing process work?
Rather than giving a formulated brief we Like to visit the designers' studios and get them to spend time with us, we want them to understand both the company and us. We really want them to engage with the process and understand the medium.
What are the most important external factors that influence a design?
Different designers have different factors. The best fashion designers are both commercial and artistic. They understand print and colour and are brilliantly decisive. Product designers are often more concerned with functionality. They want to explore the materials and the manufacturing process, they have a real sense that each piece is part of their own Legacy.
How does the business model for your company influence the design?
It's important they understand our customers. It's unlikely that a designer would have become successful without an ability to excite their own customers: we often already share the same customers but in a different medium. We don't want the price point to be an influence on their designing process. The two main factors that affect price are knot count and the material used. If the rug requires very fine detail the knot count will be high, the time taken to weave it Longer and the price higher.
How important are models and drawings in the process of developing a new product?
Our designers will usually submit their work as a drawing, either computer generated or hand drawn.
How involved do you get in the design development?
Generally, designers are not used to working with a product that is really affected by the craft of its production. It is this that makes handmade rugs so beautiful, the weaver plays a huge part in the result; it's a true collaboration between the craftsman and designer. For our collaboration with Dixon we experimented with various ideas and it took a year to get to the point where we felt we had something special. He's patient.
Where are your products manufactured?
The majority of our rugs are made in Nepal. Someone from the company will visit every couple of months.
We have developed a close friendship and understanding with our weavers and there is a constant stream of emails and phone calls all day. Before embarking on making a finished rug there will be a period of sampling, and as a result of this process, for example, Dixon changed his designs completely.
What are you currently working on?
We are just about to launch a collection with Dixon. He is a pleasure to work with, he says what he thinks, and is an intelligent man.
Your plans for the London Design Festival?
We are launching the new four- piece collection with Tom Dixon at The Dock, W10.
Above left:
Christopher Sharp during a trip to Nepal, following the rug production
Above right: One of the four designs by Tom Dixon to be presented at the London Design Festival.
