Now, Voyager

Mark McMenamin and Rebecca Thienes -- Interior Design, 7/1/2012 2:00:00 AM

Malene Barnett wants the world to get along. One rug at a time. Channeling distant locales, Malene B’s Transitions collection illustrates the connectivity of world cultures.

Her mission begins in Mexico. Inspired by the Mayan belief that textiles enhance connections with the earth and sky, she hand-tufted Maya’s multilayered zigzag in wool.
And the undulations of Chiapas render the embroidered patterns of Mayan ceremonial textiles in hand-knotted wool and silk.

Quick-dissolve to Indonesia, where the same wool-silk combo appears in Batik’s echoes of ancient wax-resist dyeing. Silver jewelry worn by Vietnam’s Hmong and Miao tribes is the reference behind Hmong, a wool flat-weave. Then Barnett goes global in Body Art, its intertwined ribbons of raised dots, hand-knotted in a hemp-linen blend, embodying the phenomenon of self-decoration.

But that’s just the beginning of the design journey. Custom sizes, shapes, colors, andeven constructions beckon. 203-855-9338; maleneb.com.