Kelim carpet hand woven

The name says it all: Finarte calls this kilim carpet Mombasa. With its warm rust-redbrauntones, it is reminiscent of the red earth of Africa, while the muted blues, greens and ochres evoke the vastness of the savannah and the beach on the Indian Ocean. This color scheme is no accident, as the design was created in collaboration with the Finnish fair trade label Mifuko. The influence of Kenyan tradition and craftsmanship is based on the close ties of the two Mifuko founders to the country and its people and is evident in all designs. However, like all Finarte carpets, the carpet is woven in India. Thanks to the traditional kilim technique there, in which the pattern is created on both sides of the carpet, it can be used on both sides. A small but fine detail is formed by the knotted fringes. The carpet can be used anywhere in the home, and since it is flat woven (pile height 0.5 cm), it is also suitable for passageways and hallways. The carpet is woven by hand, so small irregularities in color, weave and size may occur. Should stains ever stray onto the carpet, we recommend treating them with (a little) carbonated water and gently dabbing with a cloth. For more thorough cleaning, please take the carpet to professional cleaning.

Who hasn't heard of the colorful Finnish rag rug - but its inventor Eija Rasinmäki is less well known. Ever since she was given a loom by her mother, herself a weaver, at a young age, she has been enthusiastic about carpet weaving and later turned her passion into a profession. From the very beginning, back in 1970, she used recycled cotton or wove from remnants - long before the term upcycling was coined. Together with her husband, she founded Finarte in 1985 to offer affordable yet high-quality rugs produced in a resource-conserving way. While she initially designed all of her rugs herself, she now works with a range of different designers. The common thread in her designs is the combination of traditional Finnish weaving craftsmanship with modern Finnish design.

Since the 1990s, Finarte has had its carpets manufactured in India, a conscious decision for the production location: where the cotton is grown, processed and upcycled, it should also be woven. The company obtains selvedge remnants, production overhangs and offcuts from the textile industry, recycles them and then weaves them into carpets. This saves around 11,000 liters of water per kilogram of recycled cotton - the amount that would be needed to produce one kilogram of fresh cotton. In upcycling, a wide variety of cotton scraps, mostly from the clothing industry, are shredded into fibers and spun into new yarn. In addition to recycled and upcycled cotton, Finarte uses other natural materials such as virgin wool, jute and leather scraps, and since 2018 has also been producing carpets from PET material obtained from recycled plastic bottles.