Could you tell us a bit about your products?
We create hand-felted woollen art rugs. Rugs are created from the sheep breed Pramenka which is autochthonous to these parts of Europe. The wool from Pramenka is not as soft as Merino so not perfect for making garments but perfect for making carpets as it fits perfectly and gives a sensation of pure joy when stepped on with bare feet. Carpets are made with felting needles in a way that needles are pressed through the wool layers against the sponge which works as a fixing ground for the final product. In other words, you take the hand tool which is in fact a bunch of felting needles fastened to a piece of wood and hit the sponge thousands and thousands of times until you get the final product, which sometimes takes weeks to finish from start to an end.
How much time does it take to finish one rug?
This question never gets a straightforward answer yet something more like an essay. Since we prepare wool from the initial form when the wool is greasy and dirty up until we make it into clean fluffy, thin layers. The thing is we make it in batches, not for a single product so it is impossible to estimate if it takes a week or a month. What is your motto? Imperfectly perfect art rugs – this is our main motto. Products are made from natural materials, made with hands only so it is only natural to expect unique products. Creating something with hands makes products impossible to replicate. They are a little bit uneven, asymmetrical and for that reason exactly: imperfectly perfect.
What skills are necessary to be a successful creator?
Endless desire to learn and upgrade as an artist or a creator, heaps of love invested in your work, and courage to stick even when it's rough. Skills are to be learnt but to grow as a person is a choice you have to make on your own. What is a piece of advice you give your clients? Be bold with furnishing items. If you like the vivid colour but don’t think it would fit with other items you already own, change the point of view and see if it's more important to fit or to make you happy.