PATTERNITY DESIGN

Sunstripes: A Fairtrade Rug Collection for the Design Museum

Celebrating Fairtrade Nepalese manufacturing with Made by Node

We were commissioned by Made by Node to design a limited edition rug launched at The Design Museum. The rugs were made by employees of the Kumbeshwar Technical School, a founding member of Fair Trade Nepal. 

The bold monochrome pattern designs ‘ALOFT’ and ‘SUNSTRIPE’ paid tribute to the traditional drying techniques where the rugs are arranged in neat lines atop the angular Nepalese rooftops. The pattern for ‘ALOFT’ was based on the Nepalese flag shaped like two pennants – the only flag in the world that isn’t a square or a rectangle. The flag’s jagged triangular motif was flipped and repeated to reveal another iconic shape seen in the rooftops of traditional architecture.

Designed for the launch of the SUPERSTRIPE exhibition in 2013, ‘SUNSTRIPE' is a nod to the sun that rises daily over courtyards, temples and stupas to dry the rugs. Hand knotted rugs are hung out on rooftops that, in Patan Durbar Square at the centre of Lalitpur, go back to the 1600s.

Committed to understanding the processes behind our products, we are proud to use the power of pattern to bring attention to ethical issues such as Fair Trade manufacture.

Get in touch to find out about ways of working with us, from bespoke surface design to immersive installations…