Rugmark Membership—and Sales—a Growing Trend
Personal ethics and client pressure are the biggest motivating factors.
Meaghan O'Neill -- Interior Design, 6/22/2006 12:00:00 AM
Artists and designers often find themselves making significant production decisions—what drives them to select a certain path? For Bev Hisey, of her namesake firm, it was the thought of child labor. Sacco Carpet's Marc Sacco was influenced by his firsthand knowledge of poor working conditions throughout the world's major rug-weaving capitals. Walter and Christine Chapin of Company C saw a chance to give back to the communities in India. Each of these rug designers chose to join Rugmark, the nonprofit organization that works to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry and to offer educational opportunities to children in India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Certification by the group verifies that no child labor was used in the manufacture of a carpet or rug.
In the past two years, the sale of Rugmark-certified carpets has grown 27 percent, largely due to the fact that companies are responding to the child-labor problem and to their clients, who are increasingly demanding certification. Most recently, six more rug companies have joined the organization, bringing the group's total number of licensed importers to 35: Liza Phillips Design, Deliante Designs, Bev Hisey, Sacco Carpet, Classic Rug Collection, and Company C have all signed on as licensees.
Artist and designer Danielle David Grinnen of Virginia-based Deliante Designs, for example, believes that the weaving process is as important as the product itself. "I market the totality of the rug production, from conception to materials to safe, quality labor to the beautiful finished product,” she says.
For many designers, Rugmark membership provides a physical indication of personal ethics. "Rugmark represents all the values I hold in the highest regard: production integrity, safe conditions, and incentive and stimulation for maintaining the tradition of rug-making,” says Liza Phillips.
In the fall of 2006, Rugmark will officially kick-off a three-year consumer education campaign, called the Most Beautiful Rug. “If we can get 15 percent of the handmade rug market certified, that will be the point at which we've eliminated child labor from the weaving communities of South Asia," says Nina Smith, executive director of Rugmark USA. "This is achievable in the next decade, if everyone gets behind us.”
Reports from groups such as UNICEF, the International Labour Organization, and the U.S. Department of Labor currently indicate as many as 300,000 children work on South Asian rug looms. To date, Rugmark has helped release more than 3,500 children from illegal labor in the carpet industry; even more have been enrolled in one of the 13 Rugmark-sponsored schools throughout the regions of Nepal, Pakistan, and India. “Nothing is more important than providing educational opportunities for children who might otherwise be forced to do manual work," says Walter Chapin.
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