Rug, Wall Hanging, S, Wool, Aboriginal Art, Chainstitch, Kashmir, Australia, deals Fair Trade, Rosie Ross, Flora, Ampilatwatja, Living Room, Home

These beautiful woollen embroideries work equally well as floor rugs and wall hangings.
Chain-stitched kilims are a traditional rug making technique from Kashmir. As people sat on the floor they were both homewares and decoration.
The designs are by Australian Aboriginal artists, they are then chain-stitched in wool onto a canvas backing each cushion cover is an interpretation of an original artwork, usually a painting.
Front of each rug is wool embroidered onto a cotton canvas and back is cotton canvas with a non-slip surface.
Each rug has a flap on one of the shorter sides for hanging portrait style, simply slide a piece of dowel or curtain rod in and hang. As the artworks are painting on the ground most of the images do not have a set orientation so can also be hung landscape if preferred.
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These are surprisingly hard-wearing and I use them as both rugs and as and beautifully textured affordable works of art.
Limited Edition: Each rug is individually numbered and shipped with an individual document of Authenticity that gives provenance. No more than 100 rugs will ever be made in this design and size.
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Artist: Rosie Ngwarraye Ross from Ampilatwatja, north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia
Title: Native Flora
This rug has great subtlety in the way the original painting has been realised through embroidery.
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SIZE:
Rectangular: 91 cm (24 inches) x 91.5 cm (36 inches)
Composition:6wool (front) and cotton (back)
Color: the color is accurate but more nuanced in real life
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CARE INSTRUCTIONS:
Do not put place/use in direct sunlight or colors may fade. To clean - careful hand-wash in warm water using a wool detergent. Can be ironed on a wool setting.
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The artist: Rosie Ross
Rosies' painting style demonstrates a deep connection to her country, her bushes and wild medicine flowers are brightly painted onto the earth and the artist often employs a bold palette. Artists from Ampilatwatja often omit the sky from their compositions, allowing the viewer's eye to scan the landscape without a focal point, presenting two viewpoints of the country, combining an aerial and frontal view in the one composition.
Rosie was born out bush near Amaroo Station, in Alyawarr country. Her Mother, now passed, was one of the original artists in the Utopian Batik movement.
Rosie, who possesses a wonderful use of colour, especially likes to paint bush medicine and wild flowers from the surrounding areas. Her Daughter Margaret Kemarre Ross is also an artist and has inherited a similar style, bright, beautiful and expressive.

The Artists of Ampilatwatja community was established in 1999 near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The work produced by the artists is recognisably distinct from other Aboriginal artistic communities, due to the application of fine dots and the often bright and child-like figurative depiction of the land.
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About the design:
Members of the remote Aboriginal community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint ‘altyerr’ dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit. This artwork shows some of the many plants in the landscape. these plants have a high level of significance for the local people, being useful as medicine, or as food for people or for wildlife.
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About the BWA chainstitch kilim products
These beautiful, unique textiles are a cross-cultural collaboration combining Aboriginal designs and traditional Kashmiri rug-making techniques. Chain stitched, using hand dyed wool, each is a completely handmade piece. A more empowering way to work, this brings many direct benefits to the artists' and their community. Control and ownership of intellectual property are also maintained. Purchase of these products guarantees a direct return to the Aboriginal artist and their community.
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About my connection with Better World Arts
I met founder of BWA in 2004 whilst doing a consultancy in the APY Lands preparing marketing plans for five art centres for Ananguku Arts. I was gobsmacked by this terrific fair trade project that Kaltjiti Arts was then doing with Caroline Wilson. As a textile nut, the artisan skills and use of wool appealed to me and the rendering of Indigenous designs in rugs and cushion covers is so lovely. I later encouraged them to work with other art centres and introduced them to Warlukurlangu Artists and Injalak Arts. Flick (founder of Flying Fox Fabrics)
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BWA
Better World Arts has been operating for over two decades. Our role models were Oxfam, Fred Hollows (the Fred Hollows Foundation) and Anita Roddick (The Body Shop).
We work with traditional artisans from remote regions in Kashmir, Peru, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal (Tibetan refugees). More recently we have deals started working with China, making bone china and silk ties.
We work with Australian AJ boriginal artists from remote communities across Australia, from Arnhem Land to Central and the Western Desert regions, from rural locations and from cities.