Good Looks, Doing Good

Edited by Karen D. Singh, Deborah Wilk, Mark McMenamin, and Yvonne M. Chan -- Interior Design, 5/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

It's a natural progression. After people become interested in how a product is made, their focus shifts to those who make the products. Socially responsible Designtex has now partnered with Arzu, the fair-trade nonprofit for women weavers in Afghanistan, to produce company-designed rugs. Employing approximately 700 weavers from nine villages, Arzu also provides health-care benefits and financial incentives for workers' children under the age of 15 to attend school full-time and for women in the households to learn to read.

The Common Threads collection consists of six contemporary patterns constructed according to traditional Persian knot techniques, at 100 knots per inch in locally harvested, hand-spun, naturally dyed wool yarn. Each pattern is offered in three colorways, some of which feature brighter reds and greens than those generally found in Afghan weaving, and three sizes, 5 by 7 feet, 6 by 9 feet, and 8 feet square.

The square color blocks of Unity are more uniform than the oblongs of Connectivity. Irregular lines undulate past colorful oversize dots in Prosperity. Humanity boasts a stalk-and-starburst pattern. The other two patterns are called Diversity and Simplicity. 800-221-1540; designtex.com. circle 438