As we welcome the vibrant energy of Spring, it’s the perfect time to breathe new life into our homes. One of the simplest and most impactful ways to achieve this is by updating your floor rugs. Whether it’s for your living room, bedroom, or dining area, a fresh rug can instantly transform your space.
To help you find the perfect rug for your home, we ask our rug partner Tribe Home to share their expert advice on selecting the ideal rug and give us an insight into their like-minded business ethos and values.
How do you choose the right weave and fibre for each room in your home?
Understanding different fibres and weaves is crucial in selecting the perfect handmade rug for your home. Each fibre and weave can be used for differing purposes – whether that be for the look, feel or usability. For instance, with a high traffic area such as your living room, or under your dining table, we would suggest selecting a rug that is made from 100% wool. This is due to wool being the easiest fibre to clean should any spills occur. We would also recommend going for a handloomed, hand-tufted or hand-knotted design when wanting to place a rug in a busy area. In addition to these three weaves styles being the most durable, they will also experience reduced pilling and pop ups compared to a handwoven rug placed in the same area.
For an area that experiences lower to occasional traffic like a bedroom, a handwoven design that is more textural and higher in pile can be utilised. A Bamboo Silk rug can be used to create a luxe feeling in your home, adding a stunning sheen that changes as you view the rug from different angles. If putting a Bamboo Silk rug in an area that may experience medium to high traffic, we always recommend having it Micro sealed or Fibre Protected to give it that bit of extra protection.
What are your tips for selecting what size and shape rug for your living space?
A rug can transform a room, it can make an echoing space feel warm and cosy and a dull space feel bright and inviting. At Tribe Home, as a guide, we always recommend the bigger the better to help create an inviting space. However, type and size of the room, as well as furniture can impact your choice.
For a living space, a key aspect to consider is placement. We suggest each piece of furniture sits entirely on the rug. If some of the furniture cannot sit fully on the rug, it should have at least the front two lefts resting on the rugs surface to keep the space feeling cohesive. Measure up the space you are wanting to place the rug and aim to leave at least 10-20cm between the edge of the rug and walls of the room, especially if you are working with a smaller room, this will give you an idea of what sizes will work for you. When selecting size also consider how people will move through the space. Is there enough room for passage? Will the rug clear or block any doorways?
We’d love to know more about your handmade rugs and the weavers you work with!
There is nothing like owning a beautiful handmade rug. A room with a handmade rug encourages people to gather and feel comfortable in their surroundings – it is the secret ingredient that brings the whole interior scheme together. One rug can travel through 60 hands before it covers your floors. In an age where machinery is fast replacing people, we face the possibility that rug weaving may one day become extinct. It is our intention that together we can help preserve the craft of handmade rugs globally, whilst contributing to the welfare of those in the carpet weaving regions. When curating our collection of handmade rugs we draw from numerous sources of reference, among them furniture, art and surroundings in the design world. Each rug within our collections is hand-selected by us looking through the lens of a designer’s eye.
Tribe Home works with weavers whose inherent skills have been passed down through generations. Each of our rugs in our collections follow important and intricate measures through its passage from India to you. When you purchase a Tribe Home rug not only are you owning something truly magnificent to enhance your interiors, you’re also contributing to the livelihoods of many people around the globe. Each of our rugs holds a Care & Fair Label to indicate that our products are ethically supporting fair wages, trade and conduct.
At Totem Road, sustainability is at the core of everything we do. How does Tribe Home incorporate sustainability into its operations?
At Tribe Home we are committed to minimising our environmental and social impacts by enabling the integration of sustainability practices in everything we do. Throughout our journey we have supported and partnered with many organisations to ensure we can uphold our commitments. Three key organisations that help us to uphold these values are Care & Fair, SEDEX & TRAKs.
We provide financial support to Care & Fair’s human project, which works towards terminating unjust practices in India, as well as the financial support of the creation of school and training opportunities, as well as primary health care. As mentioned above, each Tribe Home rug has a Care & Fair label to indicate our products are ethically supporting fair wages, trade and conduct. In an effort to uphold social and environmental responsible practices throughout all aspects of our supply chain, Tribe Home only partners with suppliers who are members of SEDEX. SEDEX is one of the world’s leading ethical trade membership organisations that work with businesses to improve supply chain working conditions. Lastly, towards the end of 2021, Tribe Home was one of the first rug companies in Australia to join the TRAKs program. TRAKs is Australia’s first rug recycling program – the program keeps textile waste from the industry out of landfill by transforming unwanted, old rugs and samples into yarns that be used to create new furnishings.
The perfect Totem Road x Tribe Home pairing?
With so many timeless pieces of furniture we could create an endless list of combinations. A couple of our favourite pairings would be theArlo Travertine Coffee Table and our Bison rug – the creamy hues of both complement each other so beautifully. We also love theCoral Oval Dining Table with our Tait rug in Olive, the pairing of blonde wood and the Tait’s vibrant green hue add depth and richness to one another and to any space they are placed together. There are so many beautiful and boundless combinations between Totem Road and Tribe Home that will create the perfect interior schemes for our customers.
Shop our curated collection of Tribe Home rugs at the Paddington Showroom or Online
