These stunning tribal tapestries from Guatemala were a real show stopper at the recent Clerkenwell Design Week and, I have to confess, brought me out in goosebumps – that’s amazing colour and pattern for you!
This fusion of traditional Maya craftsmanship with British design is the brainchild of London-based interiors brand A Rum Fellow, founded in 2013 by Caroline Lindsell and Dylan O’Shea. As Dylan explains: “We love discovering ancient craft techniques and translating them into extraordinary products that are relevant today. Infusing traditional craft into a timeless aesthetic, A Rum Fellow is a place to find beautiful, obscure, limited edition and one off pieces for your home”.
A new collection is to be introduced each year, “inspired by newly explored lands”, and their current treasures are the Maya Collection, pictured here. A riot of colour and intricate pattern, these textiles really have to be seen to be believed; the tapestries are produced on something called a backstrap loom by simultaneously combining handweaving and embroidery, which sounds incredibly complicated and a technique I’d not heard of before. When I was told that a metre length of these textiles can take up to a month to craft, I could well believe it. I would so love to see the process in action – it sounds extraordinarily skilled and the textiles produced are real works of art. You can see some photographs of the backstrap loom being used on A Rum Fellow’s blog, along with other fascinating stories and images of their travels and colourful discoveries.
The textiles have been applied across a range of interiors products including upholstered furniture, lampshades and cushions. Indisputable star of the show was this incredible 2 seater sofa covered in a combination of Cumatz and Luna tapestries. There are 15 different tapestry panels on the sofa, each woven by a different artisan, and each one taking a month to complete.
The sofa is then built in the UK, with the sofa frame hand crafted and the upholstery completed by British craftsmen; you can choose from any combination of tapestries, and also combine them with plain fabric if you wish to make a truly bespoke piece of furniture.
As part of the collection, A Rum Fellow has developed an ikat design which has been produced using the traditional method: yarns are bound by hand to form the pattern, dyed in indigo, and then when they are untied the familiar feathered pattern is revealed where the dye has seeped under the bindings. The yarn is then woven into the finished cloth on a pedal loom. You can see it used to incredible effect on the Caterina armchair above, and it’s also been used to make lampshades and cushions, pictured below.
An important part of A Rum Fellow’s work is to celebrate and support traditional craft, and they work with weaving cooperatives, social enterprises and charities promoting female artisans. As they explain: “Empowering women through principled trade is very important to us”.
If you’d like to see more of these extraordinary textiles, plus the full range of A Rum Fellow’s homewares and furniture, then visit www.arumfellow.com. It’s an exciting journey into a land full of vibrant colour, pattern and beauty – happy exploring.
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