News

Rugs carry Region to World

From the Otago Daily Times, 02 July 2007

by Sally Rae

Well covered … Linda Wilson displays some of her wool rugs and colour samples.

Linda Wilson is combining all her interests — artistic, entrepreneurial and community — with the establishment of a hand-tufted rug business, and a large part of the wool used is produced in North Otago. NZ Style was launched at a Her Magazine network gathering at Riverstone Kitchen last week.

Described as collectable wall and floor art, the rugs depict Mrs Wilson’s original New Zealand designs.

A strong supporter of the arts in North Otago, Mrs Wilson said the opportunity arose after she and her husband Bob decided to close their Parkside garden centre, turning it into a venue, which left a space for a work studio.

She initially started doing textile mosaics, using pieces of carpet, and most were given to family.

She then started doing some research into the wool industry and, while either searching on the Internet or travelling, she found countries she came in contact with were promoting New Zealand wool, which was seen as a prestige fibre, in their carpets.

Although New Zealand offered some of the best textile wool in the world, Mrs Wilson found there was limited design being offered along with it and felt there was an opening to see how it was accepted.

She had been getting wool from Summit Wool Spinners, in Oamaru, for her mosaic textile work and was then contacted by the company to design a rug, to be presented to the then governor-general, Dame Silvia Cartwright, during a visit to the town and to Summit.

She submitted 10 designs and one, depicting a bone carving, was chosen. It was now hanging in the pavilion of Government House in Auckland. ‘‘It was stunning. It just turned out beautifully,’’ Mrs Wilson said. Having enjoyed that challenge, she decided to keep going, create a business, and see how it was accepted, both nationally and globally. Starting with a small bank loan, she had spent nearly four years getting to the stage of launching the business. She was grateful for the support of staff at Summit Wool Spinners who had given her trusted contacts in Asia.

Oamaru was first known for its wool and then its limestone and both those products had played an important role in her life. ‘‘I’ve got a foot in both,’’ she said.

Wool from the farm at Parkside was sold directly to Summit Wool Spinners, and Mrs Wilson has been heavily involved with Parkside Quarries, managed by her husband.

It was more than a product she was selling; it was a culture, she said. ‘‘It feels so right for me to do it, to push the Waitaki district, along with my art.’’

The rugs are manufactured by a company in Hong Kong, which uses only Summit Wool Spinners wool, and, while she would like in the future for them to be made in New Zealand, the quality was ‘‘just astounding’’ and the workmanship could not be faulted.

Rugs had already been sent to China and Korea and Mrs Wilson said she was prepared to drive the business as far as she could take it.

The rugs were family investments, ideal for expatriate New Zealanders to have ‘‘a bit of Kiwiana’’ — both in design and fibre — on their floor or wall, or as corporate gifts.

In half of her designs, there was no colour and the designs were carved into natural wool rugs, giving the effect of a textile version of relief in Oamaru stone.

Mrs Wilson would love to bring some ethnic culture into the rugs and invited ethnic artists to submit designs that could be worked in textiles.