Makers of Handmade Rugs and Carpets
At Warp & Weft we take design seriously, knowing our success and reputation are built upon our ability to create rugs and carpets best suited to the needs and wants of you, our discerning clientele. This does not mean however that every carpet must be the most refined, most precious ever made, but it does require us to understand the requirements of the project, be they aesthetic, functional, cost or performance driven and then advise the most appropriate solutions to the needs of demanding projects across a breadth of environments.
Perhaps you already know this, for you know the name Warp & Weft as expert purveyors of woven and handwoven floor-coverings. But there is more to this story.
Our expertise is built upon that of the mills and craftspeople we entrust to transform our vision, your vision, into reality through not only their savoir faire but also the fastidious skill and talent of the weavers and tufters who physically craft the Warp & Weft carpets you’ve come to trust and specify. Without these craftspeople and artisans, our work would be impossible and so it is them whom we honor today.
No matter the type of construction employed in the carpet you specify there is a largely unseen workforce of talented people, trained in the ancestral skills of handweaving as well as the enabling technologies of today, laboring to transform raw materials into carpets of immense aesthetic and intrinsic beauty. In this era of digital technology, the skills of these craftspeople seem almost magical owing to our physical disconnect from craft. And while magic may not be magic to the magician, it is such that there is a mystique and romance surrounding rugs and carpets crafted by hand.
The Skillful Weaver and Tufter
Each skillset involved in the crafting of handmade carpets is different, yet all share a commonality in that the human element, the touch of the hand, is required to adapt a two dimensional concept drawing into what are truly three-dimension works of textile sculpture. For the weaver, this requires an understanding of tension, density, and knotting; for the tufters, a steady hand and an eye for precision placement of yarns; and for each of them it requires practice and patience to slowly master the skills of the craft.
Said another way, Warp & Weft may have expertise in designing rugs and carpets, but our true strength is built upon the foundation of trust we place in the craftspeople - the weavers, tufters, and technicians - who commit immense quantities of their time both first learning the craft, then to the time-consuming efforts required to create the carpets you’ve come to know and love.
The Origin of Carpets with Soul
We believe it is this element of time which imbues carpets with a sense of soul; a subtle, difficult to describe emotional reaction to a rug or carpet that simply ‘speaks.’ It is as though the physicality of the soulful carpet bears witness to the aggregate manhours of human effort which produced an object of such beauty. From this perspective, it is impossible for us not to marvel at the talented people who work as weavers and tufters for they are truly the soul of Warp & Weft.
As we work with you on new projects, new collaborations, let us remember we are salespeople, carpet designers, and expert’s adept at translating your needs and wants to the possibilities of the handmade carpet trade. It is however our extreme trust in the skill of artisans throughout our supply chain that brings those visions, your ideas, to fruition. Without weavers and tufters, and in truth any one of the technical trades who craft carpets, none of the Warp & Weft Journey would be possible. We owe our gratitude and our success to these men and women and offer this humble acknowledgement of their contribution as a first step toward a better appreciation of those efforts.