NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO START A CUSTOM RUG PROJECT WITH CREATIVE MATTERS

Welcome readers from around the world. We hope this issue of Narrative Threads finds you, your families and colleagues well. By now, it goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has required all of us to endure hardships we never imagined in our lifetimes. Some, of course, have had to endure greater challenges than others - especially in emerging and developing economies where many of our custom and collection creations are handcrafted. So, to show you how we’re managing, how our colleagues at mills in other parts of the world are faring, and what we can do together to keep our international community strong, we bring you this update.

Where our design team is working

At Creative Matters in Toronto, our industrious and imaginative team has adapted to working remotely from home quite seamlessly, although we certainly miss the joie de vivre and resources of our studio. Still, it is a comfort to all of us that we have been able to remain productive and keep our entire team employed, even while we self-isolate. Many of us have even found time to take to Instagram to share DIY Art Day projects with those who may be stuck at home without work or companionship. If you’re looking for a diversion or some inspiration, please be sure to follow us.

How we’re working from home

Since the creation of a floorcovering is a long and detailed process, we already had many projects in the works to keep us busy when our studio doors closed. In addition to having a full work set-up at home, each of our designers has one of our custom colour pom (wool sample) sets for reference. And Fedex is delivering rug samples from many of our mills to our homes and to our clients’ homes.

The Creative Matters custom pom set.

“Like so many companies, we’ve improved our teleconferencing skills. We now hold international meetings at a moment’s notice and exchange a lot of helpful information, not only to keep our joint projects progressing, but also to develop new ideas and processes,” said Carol Sebert, President. “I just had a meeting with a client and she walked me through her home via iPad. It was not quite the same as being there but with floor plans, fabrics and finishes we can make it work,” said Carol. “Often a space doesn’t yet exist that we are designing for, and in that case we would work much as we are now anyway.”

 How projects continue to progress

For clients requiring a dye-injected carpet, it’s business as usual because both of our manufacturing partners in the U.S. and in Denmark are fully operational.  And if you need a handknotted rug in a rush, we have a number of these available from our various collections in our showroom. A Creative Matters project manager can take you through the selection online and then have it shipped. Just contact us to get the process started.

For interiors professionals interested in a handtufted rug, our mill partner in Thailand is still under full operation. “The mill is very open and expansive so weavers have been able to physically distance while working. And everyone’s temperature is taken before their day starts to help keep everyone safe. The weavers normally wear masks for their usual work so wearing a mask is standard,” said Carol. Like the rest of us who are healthy and have been lucky enough to keep working, our colleagues in Thailand feel fortunate.

Up close with a handtufted sample.

Why the ripple effect matters

One of the main reasons we as a company appreciate that so many of our interiors clients continue to initiate projects with us is because there is a serious ripple effect when international business slows. Being in Canada, we are privileged enough to have social safety nets available to us when times are tough. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all of our international production partners (mills).

“The individual weavers, mills and exporters in Thailand, Nepal, India and Afghanistan that we have worked with for years rely on a constant flow of business, especially when times are particularly tough,” said Ali McMurter, Vice President. “And, while our NGO partner in Asia, Label STEP, ensures fair trade standards such as a living wage and health and safety measures for our mills, dealing with a crisis like COVID-19 puts an additional burden on everyone concerned.”

At times like this, we at Creative Matters believe that it is important for our industry to do everything in our collective power to keep people throughout our supply chains top of mind (even when traditional media outlets seem to provide little news beyond our own geographical borders). One way we do this is by reaching out to our partners to see how they’re doing and what we can do to offer meaningful assistance. In the case of our mills in Nepal and India, which are currently closed during the outbreak, we have been able to provide some additional financial assistance so that they can continue to ensure food security and other basic necessities for their workers.

 At a very early stage of the outbreak of the pandemic, STEP taught hundreds of weavers main prevention measures. Now activities are focusing on the distribution of emergency aid in the form of food packets and other goods to cover basic needs. And last week they launched the STEP Corona Emergency Fund for Carpet Weavers. (To donate  go to https://breadforall.ch/donate-now/ and under purpose of donation, please select “STEP emergency fund for carpet weavers.” Bread for all is one of the supporting organizations of STEP and is set-up to accept charitable donations.)

Equally important though is to keep business flowing by getting started on new custom projects now so that weavers have work available as soon as it is safe for them to return.

“In our discussions with mill owners they tell us that what is most important is new orders – so that that once they can reopen, there will be work for artisans, and the craft of handknotting will continue to thrive,” said Ana Cunningham, Vice President. “The best way we can help is to provide them with projects to be woven in the future, so now is the perfect time to order.”

Now’s a perfect time to get started on a handknotted creation

If you are ready to start a custom handknotted rug project – or you have one that has been on the back burner for a couple of years – we are ready to design it and place the order with the mill. You will then be among the first ones in the queue once the shutdown is over. Your order will bring the weavers solace and you a rug with a particularly meaningful story.

Weaver photos courtesy of Label STEP