Showing posts with label Creative Matters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creative Matters. Show all posts

Friday, July 19, 2013

Introducing: The Design Team, Part 1



Continuing with our staff introductions, this month we feature two members of the design team!






Elizabeth White, Designer & Retail Coordinator
A graduate of OCAD University, Elizabeth joined Creative Matters almost 2 years ago as a member of the design team. Taking on many roles, Elizabeth keeps the office in high spirits through impromptu singing, dancing, and an infectiously positive attitude, all while managing our three international retail lines and custom designer projects.
Textiles for Elizabeth are an experience. She loves the variety of materials and textures that allow for endless exploration and design possibilities. Her favourite thing about Art Day is the freedom it gives to play with tactile materials.





Clemence Hardelay, Senior Designer
From a background in fashion and textile design, and a passion for weaving, Clemence joined Creative Matters this year as a member of the design team. Born in France and raised in Italy, Clemence speaks four languages. With her years of design experience, and international upbringing, she adds a fresh approach to our creative process.
Her favourite things about textiles are textures and colours, and the possibilities of combining fibres to create dynamic constructed forms.





Wednesday, July 3, 2013

July: Announcements, Glass Blowing for Art Day 13, and Summer!




We've jumped into July with a splash!

Last month we announced our big silver jubilee plans. In November, Creative Matters will be mounting The Art Day Project to celebrate and demystify the art of rug design and fair trade weaving, in partnership with the Textile Museum of Canada and Label StepShowcasing our process of custom handknotted rug design, the show will include Art Day workshops and an educational display of how our rugs are manufactured in Nepal.


Art Day 13

The Creative Matters team also learned to make glass last month! For Art Day 13 (the luckiest of Art Days) we ventured out to Gregor Herman's studio in the Junction for a couple lessons in glass production.




Art Day is a way for our whole team to enjoy the process of making and creating in mediums beyond the digital. The results of each Art Day inspire our design process and help generate new concepts for our floor and wall coverings.

How can the art of glass blowing inspire our designs? 
Let's follow the process with one of our Senior Designers, Tiffany Wu.



Here's Tiffany with her colours ready to be picked up by the molten glass that will become her final piece.

Tiffany blows through a special rod called a blowpipe that holds the ball of hot glass at the opposite end, while Gregor turns the rod to keep the shape of the glass even.
Once the hot glass has a bubble of air started, Gregor shapes it up a bit to prepare for design details.

Tiffany is using a tool to move the bits of colour into patterns for the final piece, as well as creating small bubbles inside the glass to add to the dynamic design.

Tiffany is being as precise as possible, but because the glass is so hot it's hard to tell colours apart. 
After adding details, the glass is ready to be heated again for the second stage of blowing!

The glass is blown into a sphere.

The glass sphere is cut off from the blow pipe via heat and stuck to another rod. This creates an opening for the sphere, which can then be made into a small vessel.

Tiffany opens the vessel using special tongs, while Gregor turns the rod to keep the design even. 

A happy maker with her finished piece!

Back in our studio, the glass is photographed and added to our Art Day files. 


A concept is then created from the original piece using Adobe Photoshop! Can you see the inspiration? 





Happy July! Stay hydrated, wear sunscreen, and enjoy some lemonade!



Monday, March 4, 2013

Hello, March!

February was a busy month! After IDS13 we received some great press, and then even more great press, about our wallcoverings. We're happy to have made a splash with our newest venture!

So we've made it to March! It's the time of year when winter finally starts to ease up to spring, holidays with the family abound, and (if the snow's still good) we pack in as much end of season tobogganing as we can.

In Ancient Rome, March was the first month of the year. As wikipedia can tell you, this month is named after the Roman god, Mars, who you may know better as the Greek god of war, Ares. This month was traditionally (or rather, hellenistically) the month to start military campaigns. Similarly, in these contemporary times, many people choose March as the month to attack their homes with an annual onslaught of spring cleaning 

It's also a luxurious time of year. Well, we consider it a luxurious time of year. 

As the snow melts away and the sun shines a bit longer each day, we can see the world beyond winter once more. To us, this is luxury. On a nice March day you can wear shoes... luxury! The birds fill the air with songs... luxury!

Or maybe March is still cold, and you're tired of being inside. So you decide to make it luxurious by going away for the weekend and staying in a nice hotel, or going out (window) shopping for your favourite luxury designs.

If you're into making luxury your March experience, we recommend the following:


1. Enjoying a night or two in New York.

The James Hotel in NYC is a boutique experience. It's also a great place to kick off your shoes and step down on some lovely carpet.


Creative Matters Inc. with Amanda Sullivan Studio Architect, New York, NY 

Our rugs have a way of making you feel right at home.



2. Shopping in Paris.

If you're interested in seeing some beautiful designs underfoot, while enjoying some sophisticated shopping, check out the department store Printemps.

Creative Matters Inc. with Yabu Pushelberg, Toronto, ON

Our custom carpets add to the luxury of the space!



3. Shopping in Hong Kong.

Maybe you really want to get away from the hustle and bustle of your city, to enjoy the luxurious hustle and bustle of one of the world's economic capitals. 

While you're there you may be interested in stepping onto some great design, so why not visit Louis Vuitton?


Creative Matters Inc. with Yabu Pushelberg, Toronto, ON

Original carpet designs to compliment an original design house.



So as the spring season starts, take a moment to reflect on the luxury around you, and especially the luxury under your feet.

And happy tobogganing!    





Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A New Year, A New Collection!

It seems like it was just last week that the CMI team stepped off the plane from Hannover where they presented our newest collection Terra, and we’re already immersed in developing another new line of hand-knotted carpets for a new collection. Our team is ever expanding and this year we decided to take a fresh approach to creating a collection by creating 2 series’ of hand-painted and hand-drawn markings as inspiration for our new pieces.



In a field where we can easily utilize the computer and Wacom tablet as our tool of choice, we made the decision to “return to our roots” so to speak, and pick up a paintbrush. We chose to flex our artistic muscles with a series of “art days” where the entire team (office managers and accountant included) participated in intensive 3-hour sessions of painting, drawing and general mark making. And the results were fabulous!



We worked with different grounds like mulberry paper (wet and dry), watercolour paper and news print and covered them in India ink, charcoal,wax and paint. It was messy and brilliant and resulted in over 230 paintings and drawings. From there we collectively created 168 working concepts and were able to whittle these down to a collection of 7.



Now we’re on to the sampling process and with eager anticipation await their arrival! Creative Matters hopes to launch our still unnamed collection at the New York International Carpet Show and then at Domotex 2012. Times are changing and interesting things are happening at our little studio on Annette Street. Stay tuned!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Have a Seat! (For a good cause)

"There are an estimated 10,000 people on any given day here in the GTA who are homeless or living in shelters and without support. It is incredibly difficult for many of these individuals to rise above these circumstances and move forward into positive change...Furniture Bank has been able to help good people who find themselves in bad situations through donations for eleven years. By supplying them with furniture and household goods we change their lives and provide the necessary resources to live in a more dignified manner."
- www.furniturebank.org

Creative Matters is excited to announce that we will be participating in an event to raise awareness and funds for the Furniture Bank, a non-profit organization in Toronto that works to provide furniture and household goods to low-income families in the city. In 2009 the Furniture Bank helped over 2,000 families create a furnished home with dignity and this year, they hope to impact 2,400 families.

The event is called Chair Affair, and will showcase the designs of local artists donating their talents and their time to create works of art with ordinary chairs from the Furniture Bank warehouse warehouse. Twenty-nine chairs will be showcased in a silent auction with five of these special chairs being auctioned live.

After much brainstorming and collaboration between the entire team, our chair has been completed and shipped off to the lovely folks at the Furniture Bank in anticipation of the Affair on Thursday October 21st at the Steam Whistle Brewery. Tickets for the event can be purchased here.

Although we can't show you the finished product, here's a couple of before shots of our chair and some insight into our inspiration for the piece. We hope you like it and we hope to see you there!







"The concept for this chair was born from the natural approach that Creative Matters takes when embarking on any new rug design project that we receive.

Each Creative Matters client presents a blank canvas – in this case, a chair. Our aim is to present a beautiful and luxurious product to our client by taking care to work through the processes of design which result in the finest end product available.

"Our chair is upholstered with fine linen and 100% silk rug pieces that were hand-woven in Nepal. The stitching is a whimsical element that represents the early stages of our design process where we sketch concepts or motifs for visual direction. The beautiful fabrics, golden-hued wooden legs, and Dupioni silk buttons are all pieces of inspiration that a client may give us to work from. These elements, delicately layered together, create a very personalized story that reflects how Creative Matters works, in the form of a luxurious, hand-made chair."


Stay tuned for the grand unveiling and help support the Furniture Bank!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

CMI, Keeping Kids Warm Next Winter

Creative Matters has always been determined to instill socially conscious practices in regard to the creation of their rugs. The weavers who make the rugs, in the many countries where they are woven, are adult artisans. Along with Creative Matters’ insistence that all the rugs from Nepal be child labour free, we’re always looking for ways to expand our focus beyond the walls of the factories. On Thursday June 6th we took it one step further by hosting a coat drive in an effort to send warm clothing and outerwear to the street children in Kathmandu. Michael Pourvakil and his team at Weavers Art Contemporary, generously hosted the evening in their beautiful Designers Walk showroom.



As a regular visitor to the city, CMI co-founder, Carol Sebert gets to see the beautiful parts of this South Asian country but also some of the darker images Kathmandu holds. She says:

"While in Nepal last November, I saw a number of kids living on the streets. It gets cold in Kathmandu in the winter and kids are forced to sleep next to dogs to stay warm. I was struck by this tragic existence and wanted to make a difference.”

According to UNICEF, "Street living children are children who may have lost their families through war or illness, or have been abandoned because they had become too much of a burden, or else ran away from their abusive, dysfunctional, poverty-stricken families and now live alone on the streets. Many poor children are struggling for survival out in the streets, sleeping on makeshift cardboard mattresses in main cities like Kathmandu.”



Our event was a success, raising awareness and collecting over 100 coats to send to Kathmandu with the help of Child Welfare Scheme, U.K.- Nepal who will aid in the distribution of the coats and ensure that the outerwear gets to those in need. Our CWS representative, Jeremy Southon wrote to us this morning with his distribution game plan,

“ We will have them delivered to one of your suppliers so that they can clear it through customs as I will be managing distribution in Kathmandu…Once the clothes have arrived I should put together a clear distribution plan for your approval and then get the clothes distributed in early December when the cold season starts.”

We look forward to an update from Jeremy in the coming months. A special thanks for the huge efforts put forth by staff and students of Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School, Toronto, for taking up our plight and gathering a great number of coats and outerwear. We also warmly thank friends and neighbors of Creative Matters for their donations as well.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Unbridled Enthusiasm




Greetings from Creative Matters!


Carol and Ana returned this past weekend from their trip to Nepal. Carol managed to steal a few hours from her busy trip, to visit the Goodweave site where children are taken after being rescued from forced labour in carpet mills. While she was there, she taught an art class for the 33 students who are living there at the moment. After she left, Carol sent the most uplifting email from Nepal - very inspiring! I had to share:


I had such a fun day I felt I had to report right away.

I went to the home where the kids live at Rugmark/Goodweave today with paper, paints (house paint tinted yellow pink and blue) black ink and paintbrushes. The kids were really excited that we were going to have an afternoon of art. I began with them all up on the roof of their home, as it was a gloriously sunny day. We sat in a big circle and started with the ink and did life drawing, which of course, was absolutely hilarious. I got one of them to model and at first they were shy and their poses a bit dull, but one by one (I guess I had about 15 models by the end) the poses became more elaborate. There were lots of judo-like poses by the boys and tiger-like poses from the girls. They all just leapt into painting with marvelous abandon!



I then had them take the black and white paintings and add colour. By this time, the paint was starting to get all over the place, including in my hair as it was quite a flurry - paint pots were spilling, what with 33 kids exuberantly painting... but they were so into it, and so incredibly focused. I've done workshops like this before and there are generally a few goofballs that really can be disruptive, but not these kids - they worked really hard.



After about an hour I wanted to do one larger piece. I wanted them to try working larger so the full sheet that was 24”x36”. I instructed them to paint themselves in a setting that they liked and WOW, the results were amazing. Many of them did houses with the Himalayas in the background with clouds in the sky and big suns. One boy painted the RugMark house that they all currently live in with him on the roof flying a kite; another boy drew himself as almost a cartoon superman type figure in a charming landscape. Gorgeous work. And they were so proud of themselves - I couldn't take enough pictures of them holding their artworks, it was absolutely lovely.



A touching moment was when one girl, who had just arrived the day before, who was too shy to do anything but watch finally picked up a paintbrush (well I may have put it in her hand). She did a lovely figure painting all pinks and blues. You could just sense her feeling more settled and part of the group. The warden and I were both really pleased to see that.




Namaste,


Carol




Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Good-bye summer...

Dear Friends,


It’s been a busy Spring/Summer season at Creative Matters. The month of April saw our fearless leaders trek back to Nepal for almost 2 weeks to visit our mills, weavers, spinners and washers. Quality control is of the utmost importance to CMI and this is how we ensure beautiful carpets and samples. This brief chance to speak with the mill owners and weavers is best opportunity to mesh our visions and instructions, maintaining this strong partnership and that produces our custom carpets and our Aerial Collection.


After all of the work is done, on those long Nepalese days, Carol and Donna manage to find some spare moments to decompress. This comes back to us in the form of their beautiful photography that tells us at the studio in Toronto, a million stories.


May, June and July have provided busy days filled with artworks and colour-matching, samples and carpet installations. One of the most exciting events was the installation of the beautiful lobby carpet at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York.

The sleek new design lends itself beautifully to the chic, luxurious vibe that the Soho seems to float on. And working with Studio Sofield is always a pleasure (especially when the results are this beautiful!)



Now our water-logged summer seems to be in her home stretch as we look forward with anticipation and excitement to our next steps for 2009. Samples of the new additions to the Aerial Collection are trickling in and the buzz is starting to build as we look forward to Domotex 2010. Granted, the big day for Germany is in January, but we at Creative Matters know how fast time flies. This year the team will truly be taking pieces of Canada with them overseas – but that’s all that I’m going to give away.


If you want to see what I’m talking about, you’ll have to meet Creative Matters in Hanover for the launch...




Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Creative Matters Immersed in “Contemporary Culture”


Last night the Creative Matters team was delighted attend the celebration of the newly renovated 3rd location of Weavers Art in Toronto. Michael Pourvakil and his team launched Weavers Art – Contemporary Culture last night at 162 Bedford Rd., in Designers Walk Building 3.

Contemporary Culture is showcasing hand-knotted, silk and wool luxury carpets by a handful of international designers such as Emma Gardner, Lapchi and New Moon, and perhaps, most excitingly, yours truly - Creative Matters. Pause for applause. – Thank-you.

The beautiful open-concept showroom exudes luxury with it’s high ceiling, cream wall colour and seductive lighting. I must say, we felt right at home...and so do our rugs!

If you get the chance, go and have a look - you'll be floored. ;)

Cheers,
Erin

Monday, March 23, 2009

There's something in the air...

Spring has sprung in the Creative Matters studio, the sun is shining and thankfully, there is no more snow on the ground in Toronto (knock on wood). We’ve all been super-busy with various new projects and we can hardly believe that it’s almost the end of March! It seems that we have a million things on the go - ok, maybe just a hundred - but the there’s a buzz in the air and we like it.

The design team has been working hard on new additions to the Aerial Collection (some are in the sampling stages) and we’ve been toying with the idea of adding a second collection to our Creative Matters line of carpets, with a completely different look and feel. That’s under lock and key at the moment so, stay tuned to see what we come up with! Trust me, it’s going to be great.

We’re also excited to be in the throws of planning an event in April with the lovely people at Modern Weave to celebrate our successful collaboration and creative merging of the minds, if you will. Modern Weave, along with their sister store Weavers Art, carry our entire Aerial Collection of wool and silk carpets in various sizes and colourways. They are continually supportive of what we do and they have a breath-taking showroom so if you haven’t seen our carpets in the flesh (or fibre) head to King Street East for a peek. For those of you in the trade, visit one of 3 Weavers Art locations in Designers Walk or on Davenport Road or Bedford Road all in Toronto (see the website for details).

I know it’s short but hopefully this post piques your interest. Before you know it, the season of bare feet will be upon us – what better time for a wool and silk carpet, hmmm? The carpet above has some nice Spring appeal - nothing like a bright, cheerful botanical to freshen things up. (You can check out this one in the December 2008 The World of Interiors, December 2008 article "Made for Manhattan" with Studio Sofield)

Talk soon,
Erin.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Home Sweet (and cold) Home

We're back! The Domotex team is slowly trickling back into Canada, buzzing with excitement - let's face it, we had a great (and very successful) time. This show was great - so many stories and so little time! In the next series of entries, we'll fill you in - we know you're curious. Let's start with our arrival...


Ana and I landed in Germany on Wednesday, January 14th and went straight to the Deutsche Messe, where the show was being held. Running on sheer adrenaline and 3hrs sleep, we excited to see how the booth looked...and it was beautiful and glamourous and we were extatic! Our massive crate, containing our goods and supplies was there too - things were falling into place nicely...all we needed now were the rugs. We held our breath and waited and finally the rugs arrived (direct from Nepal)...looking terrific.


We did our best to lay the ground work for the next day which included vaccuuming and hanging the carpets and setting up the rest of the booth and then decided that this long day was beginning to give up its fight. Our trip to the hotel was fairly smooth, although I must admit, my brain was working in overdrive to remember exactly where the little inn was located.

The next day we were back at the Messe at 9 and Carol and Donna arrived just after noon. We got to work, turning our canvas into art, hanging carpets and setting up shop. We delivered our carpet to "floorforum", an area devoted to trends in the modern carpets and textile floor coverings industry was designed internationally renowned designer Ulf Moritz. This year the categories were reserved for design, structure and colour. Creative Matters was selected to contribute 3 entries this year - all under the category of "design". Throughout the show, visitors were invited to vote for their favourite - a "peoples choice" award, if you will - and who better to choose the best carpet? :)

Next up - deliver Nova Platinum - our Carpet Design Award nominated master-piece. It must have been quite a site...4 Canadian women traipsing through 4 separate halls, lugging 80 square feet of pure wool and silk, in what appeared to be a little carpet train. After a slight detour, we found our destination in Hall 15 and left our CDA hopeful in the capable hands of Hali/Modern. Sorry, no pics of this area - highly secure and classified, just the way we like it. Trust me, Nova Platinum looked gooooood on its own little personal stage.


The next day the Domotex team arrived at the booth ready to work , reconnect and meet new faces - our neighbors for the next 5 days. We were excited about our beautiful booth and our prospects with the new Aerial Collection. You'll have to stay tuned for the results of the awards!



Until then -
Tschus!

Erin

Monday, January 12, 2009

Our bags are packed and we're INCREDIBLY excited to go!



Happy New Year! Gutes Neues Jahr!

It's January 2009! We're packing our bags/crates/boxes for Domotex in Hanover, Germany in preparation for our international launch of the additional pieces to our Aerial Collection.
Domotex is one of the largest carpet focused trade shows in the world, featuring a diverse range of offerings, presented by some 1,350 exhibitors from
60 different nations.


And here's an exciting tidbit - we've received news that we are short listed for an award! We're crossing our fingers. In the words of the organizers:

"These awards are given for innovative design, creativity and quality in the handmade carpet sector. The CDA are the benchmark for this industry and the place to showcase new trends".


As well, 3 of our rugs have been chosen for "floorforum", designed by the internationally renowned designer Ulf Moritz. This is an area of the show that is reserved to showcase trend and innovation in the carpet design field and we're delighted and flattered to be a part of it. Again in the words of the organizers:

The theme is "less is more", and the focus here is on the natural, tactile quality of textured carpets, which bring warmth and feeling to any room with their subdued colours, restful patterns and their suitability for any setting. Dramatic textures and natural textiles are seen from a new angle here in a sensitively staged display.


Carol, Donna, Erin and Ana, will be welcoming international visitors to our booth in Hall 3 Stand 54, and look forward to positive feedback for the Aerial Collection. It is an amazing fair with every type of carpet
imaginable, available from vendors worldwide. We look forward to sharing our experiences and the information on new innovative products upon our return. If we get a second, we'll try to post some pics and info while we're there!

See you! auf Wiedersehen!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Happy 20th Birthday Creative Matters!!

What a flurry of activity November has afforded Creative Matters! More than a week after our 20th Anniversary Gala Fundraiser, I finally have a chance to sit down and write about our fantastic night.


First of all, we’re 20! Happy Birthday Creative Matters! Congratulations to Carol and Donna for such a great feat – and here’s to 20 more, right? So, the night went off without a hitch and we saw just over 500 people come through our event at Gallery 345 to help us celebrate. Our long and arduous hours of installing the show, that saw the whole staff (and some of their parents!?) hammering and hanging, sweeping and cleaning, paid off. The gallery was transformed from a very promising canvas into a feast for the eyes (and hearts!) that displayed our new collection of hand-knotted carpets as well as a retrospective of 20 years worth of CMI designs and photographs.


One of the other big highlights of the evening was the unveiling of Hariti, the responsible, luxury rug that was created as a fund-raising piece that will be raffled to benefit RugMark. RugMark, as you know, works to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry in South Asia and offers educational opportunities to children who are rescued from carpet mills. The carpet is stunning and we sold a ton of raffle tickets. We’re nearing our goal but we’re still not there – so buy buy buy! You still have 13 days left! I can't even tell you what an opportunity this is - the chance to win a hand knotted, one-of-a-kind, wool and silk carpet - for $25!


In addition to all of this we finally had the opportunity to meet a RugMark representative, in the flesh! Heather Joseph, RugMark’s Development Officer (who is lovely) flew in from Washington, D.C. She came and spoke and worked the room to spread the word. And as a special treat, Heather was joined by Robin Romano, the talented photographer (and amazing speaker) who shot the Faces of Freedom show that hung at Gallery 345 in conjunction with Floored to be 20. The photos were breath taking and we were so happy that they could share in our celebration.


Great big thank-yous to everyone who helped to make our party perfect! Stay tuned for more party pics on our next post "The Guest List".

Stay warm (curled up on a wool carpet)!
Erin

Friday, October 10, 2008

Just a little reminder...


Good morning everyone!

The countdown is on to win Hariti, Tibetan for “Protectress of Children”, an original and responsible, luxury rug designed by Creative Matters.

All proceeds from the raffle go directly to RugMark, a non-profit organization working to end child labour in South East Asia. The cost of only two tickets ($50.00) offers a child a full year of education.

If you have already purchased a ticket for Hariti, here is a great photo of the hand made wool and silk area rug, graced by furniture courtesy of Klaus by Nienkamper.

Visit the Creative Matters blog for the inspiration and progress of this journey. Send a child to school, give an opportunity for an educated future and hope to win Hariti.

Click Here to Purchase your Ticket for Hariti!

Have a great weekend and keeping checking in for more updates!
Erin