Des Fleur Sous Med Pieds or Flower beneath my feet
Our first rug {Yayy, doing a super happy dance because always wanted to do a rug} in collaboration with The Weaver is out on store, and we are so happy about it to be debuting in a market that is open to experiment; open to take a chance on new designers, ideas and thoughts that I am literally basking in gratefulness! Honestly, I can’t wait to tell you who our first customer is but not yet! For that, a complete before and after is in order. For today here’s a story of our beloved rug.
When you know the faces behind a product, the work, the effort that goes behind it, your conscious mind elevates it from seeing it as just a product to a piece that you are personally connected with.
And that is why, products with a background or stories are so important. Faces are so important. Because Just like design and designers cannot be separated from one another, a product cannot be separated from its creator. And by involving you in the process, I am making sure that you are just as involved in the process as we have been, and the contagious happiness passes on to you! It’s so much fun to see a design move on from paper and photoshop to an actual motif in wool. Believe me when I tell you that everytime I step on it, I feel like a little girl squealing with delight. This process has been so fulfilling, so satisfying. Plus, how many times do you actually get to see how a rug is made anyway right? It took us 4 whole months to see what we have today and it’s very interesting to know how it all fell into place. And I am so glad we did this!
When The Weavers wrote to me one nice, sunny February day about how can we work together we hit it off instantly talking designs. {And missing a scheduled meeting on a work day when Shilpa was already halfway to Chembur! God damn. But she has so much patience. She is lovely} We both thought creating something together will be a lot more significant than working or styling with their existing designs because that way we encapsulate the essence of their exquisite craftsmanship and my design style which I document under #trumatterstyle in the lack of a more creative name. Haha.
And… so it began!
The Story of our Rug: Des Fleurs Sous Mes Pieds
It started from this! We figured out that we wanted something through and through Scandinavian, with cleaner lines and a palette borrowed from the Nordic lands that literally has my heart. Haha, please do not miss my terrible note of appreciation though I promise I mean every bit of it.
Shilpa and her wonderful team of designers who constitute “The Weaver” sent me a few design samples that is possible in the hand tufted section- this is the kind of rug we wanted. By the way, if you didn’t know,ย The Weaver does three distinct Rugs-
1. Hand Knotted: A hand knotted rug is an ancient art form of hand knotting individual pieces of wool or silk yarn onto a loom to create a wool rug.
2. Hand Tufted: A hand tufted rug is the practice using a small tufting gun to punch a design into a canvas.
3. Flatweave: A rug that is woven on a loom with defined patterns.
We wanted a Hand tufted one for that plush, soft, petal under my feet feel. At this point, we were certain of the colour palette and it looked like this. This is our final moodboard for the colour
Deciding on the rug design
Starting from this rug, which has a super classy, uncluttered, clean Scandi lines, we decided on two designs- The Des Fleur as you see now {which is 100% floral} and another which has a slight abstract form to it. The mustard colour palette that you see is actually borrowed from the other design into floral patterns. Funny right, how one thing leads to other?
Toggling designs between us for days, we finally arrived at this sketch, which would go on to be hand tufted by the skilled artisans and become the flower beneath our feet. We chose a tufted one also because Hand-Tufted rugs take less time to make and the cost is also considerably lower than Hand Knotted ones. Here’s the final swatch!
The Process of Weaving our Rug
This is an interesting process. Wool is tufted onto a thin cloth which is then stuck to a thick fabric and then finished. The wool part is called PILE, and we were pretty sure, we wanted a short pile because I have cats. So the weaving began!
Shilpa was so kind to send me images from the factory! And with each side finished, I used to be squealing with joy. The canvas you see in this will be later added to a thick backing so the rug sits properly without slipping.
Once the rug was done tufted, a really good man {I have no clue who he is} buffed it so there are no uneven areas. Next, roll and pack!
Sounds easy, all of this- but it took us about 3 months to finish this- the major chunk was to figure the design and colour palette.
We also chose 100% pure New-Zealand wool, which The Weaver was so kind to send a sample of, and they feel absolutely heavenly under your feet! Honestly, and unlike me, it did not take much to narrow down a name. I saw it, closed my eyes and got lost in a Parisian lane with a plush carpet of flowers for me to run on.
And thus, Des Fleurs Sous Mes Pieds was born- My most favourite piece of all, because the logic of first born applies to this for sure.
Where To buy
If you want some #trumatterstyle in your home, the rug is available for purchase with The Weaver and the cost will be 700 INR/Sqft + 12% GST.
So, for a 4 x 6 ft carpet, the cost will be around 16,800 + 2016. Roughly 18000
We have the rug in two colours- In Mustard and coral so, feel free to take your pick!
Off now to savour the fruit of my labour with an episode of silicon valley.
Rug, coffee and Jin Yang to you
Rukmini!
I love all the rug collections you’ve showcased. But this one is my absolute favorite ๐
Thank you so much!!!
Rugs can make huge transformation to a room. I like your collection and the coral one is my favorite. Will keep looking for more.
true that ๐