Having searched Central Asia for a likely partner to produce silk rugs we have settled on working with Turquoise Mountain a charitable endeavour set up in 2006 by HRH Prince of Wales ( as was then ) Rory Stewart and others to promote areas of traditional crafts in counries including Afghanistan. We will also be running parralel trials in Turkey for silk rugs with our more familiar producers.
A talk will be given illustrating our work with Turkish bespoke carpets made from natural dyes and hand-spun wool. The House Directory Live is hosted by the main event Battersea Decorative Fair on the mezzanine floor, where we also have a stand M03 for the duration of the fair (7-12 May). The talk will focus on the processes of commission, design, dying, weaving and final project installation.
Temple Newsam (historically Temple Newsham), is a Tudor-Jacobean house in West Yorkshire with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The house is one of nine Leeds Museums and Galleries sites. In 1920s, the entire house contents were sold off and very recently some of the Wilton / Kidderminster stair carpeting from 1870s has been reunited back to the house. However, some 10metres is missing and we are investigating making faithful replicas in Turkey.
The ORU SPACE project to repurpose a disused department store in Surrey, (England), successfully and cleverly recycled otherwise discarded pieces of old antique Turkey carpets as banquettes. The supply of such material old or new is a facet of our business, in that we are occasionally requested to supply upholstery material, particularly in commercial premises where a robust solution is called for. Another similar project but not with Joanne, was done for Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumberland using flatweave kilims.
