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Today we are best known for our pure sisal carpets and rugs. However, our
portfolio extends beyond this silken fibre. Carpets in sisal and wool,
coir, seagrass
and paper are on offer, along with bindings.
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Pure Sisal
There is a paradox with pure sisal.
While it is luxuriously lustred and can be woven to have
generous soft loops suitable for a film star’s bedroom, pure
sisal fibre also has the strength to tie up a ship.
The best
pure sisal yarn starts life in the fronds of agave sisalana
grown in East Africa. It ends up at our showrooms in many
different hues from creamy white through golds and greys to
chocolates and even high-tech black.
The fineness of pure sisal
fibre allows it to be spun in many different gauges yielding
a great variety of exciting geometric textures. Yet always
with great strength.
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Pure Sisal with Wool
The lustre and strength of sisal snuggles up to the
warmth of warps in fine New Zealand wool.
Think wool, think softness. Yet here, you get
a genuine woven texture without compromising durability.
Look at the textural contrast - the sheen against the softness. And then
re-assure yourself. This is a real woven texture with warps and wefts. The wool can't lie down.
Pure sisal with pure wool is an emerging winner.
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Coir
No stranger to the floors of the late Queen Mother (especially
in Balmoral Castle), coir matting is made by spinning the processed
fibres of the outer husk of the coconut. Husk
collection takes place in the romantic backwaters of Kerala State
in the South of India – a region made famous by Arundhati Roy’s
acclaimed novel, The God of Small Things.
Richly textured — because of its thicker fibre and yarn — coir
comes in either a cocoa/cinnamon (natural) yarn or a buttery
creamy (bleached) yarn or a combination of both. Simple
herringbone or ribbed weaves are most common. It is the
simplicity of this product that allows it to be the textured
stage for many an antique or oriental rug.
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Seagrass
As seagrass squares, this was the first floor covering for
many baby boomers. And where we began business. Today, in
its woven form, seagrass floor covering continually stars in
style defining journals like The World of Interiors.
These grasses are twisted and woven into chunky textured
durable and economical floor coverings. Seagrass starts
out with a green tinge, but eventually becomes a slightly
mottled pale brown – a hue that hides a million sins.
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Paper
Nowhere near as fragile as it sounds, machine made paper twine has
been starring on floors and furniture since the end of the
nineteenth century.
A famous English furniture company, Lloyd Loom, abandoned wicker
in favour of paper twine for its elegant woven chairs. All the
rage in the 1930’s, the English used them as outdoor furniture.
Yes, there is a huge difference between what the English call
rain and what we call rain — we wouldn’t leave a paper rug outside
— but you may be surprised at how resilient paper floor coverings
can be.
This range of floor coverings made from twisting
resin-coated strips of paper presents yet another interesting
yarn-determined texture. Walls and ceilings often wear it too.
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Bindings
We try to choose the bindings that frame our designer rugs on the
basis of what looks good – durable fabrics sometimes look plain utilitarian.
This will not always mean that the binding will give service over many years.
A chunky jute binding from Belgium will be outlived by the rug it surrounds.
Similarly with a linen binding. However that rug can be re-born with a new
binding when the time comes.
 See our whole range of bindings
Design a rug.
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