Thanks to COVER magazine for featuring our design

Thanks to Lucy Upward at COVER magazine for featuring our new Lacy Maple Leaf design in their 2015 Trends report.  We are very excited to be included!  The Lacy Maple Leaf design was inspired by a beautiful tree in our new home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  The leaves look like fine lace.

Rug pads are important

An often overlooked add-on to a rug purchase is a pad.  Rug pads, however, are very important for a variety of reasons which include increasing the longevity of the rug.  If you make an investment in a beautiful area rug, it is well worth it to spend a few dollars on a rug pad.  In addition to increasing the life of the rug, the pad secures the rug in place so that you, your friends and family will not slip on the rug and it also adds a cushiness under foot and makes the rug look more luxurious.  Finally, depending on the type of rug you have...hand-knotted, hand-tufted, bound carpet to mention a few...a rug pad can protect your floor from the backing on a rug that can scratch a floor.

The type of rug pad that I recommend is the Durahold rug pad.  It has a rubber backing on one side...that side sits on the floor...and a recycled felt pad on the other side.  See pictures below.

A great source for these rug pads is www.bestrugpads.com

Visiting Cardinal Gibbons High School to inspire teens

I spent the afternoon with my daughter's art class at Cardinal Gibbons high school with 2 messages to share with the teens:

1. Pursue your passion, follow your dreams, you can make a living with a creative business and do what you love!

2. Look deeper into how products you purchase are made.  GoodWeave makes sure that no child labor was used in making a rug.

Julie Dasher Rugs is a licensed importer with GoodWeave.  We donate a percentage of our profits each year to GoodWeave to help with education and community services in our weaving communities.

OUR DEBUT AT HIGHPOINT MARKET

Just finished our debut at Highpoint market.  It was a wonderful week of sharing our design aesthetic and products with interior designers from around the world who attended market.  All 50 of our press kits at the Media Center were taken which was totally unexpected!

Networking opportunities were amazing...met Gary Inman of Glave and Holmes who is creating some beautiful furniture designs and has become a "style spotter" extraordinaire.  Visited with Jamie Schactel who created COUEF.  They had a divine space at Inter Hall and a new globally-sourced line of ottomans, tables and chairs that are chic and modern.  Met Sarah Stroh, editor of Rug News and Design, who organized a lovely breakfast billed as the Women's Rug Roundtable...I was with my "tribe" as we chatted about global issues surrounding the rug industry.  Most of my time was spent "manning" the booth and meeting interior designers who were on the hunt for the latest and greatest resources for their projects.

It was so exciting and fun to be at the center of the home furnishings industry.  I can't thank my husband, Thom, enough for all of his support and hard work in making this happen.  I couldn't have done it without him!  xxxoooo

Please donate to Goodweave!

Please consider a donation to Goodweave this week.  It's the non-profit in Washington, D.C. that I support to help end child labor in the rug-making industry.  If we raise $3500 this week, we get a $1500 donation from the Skoll Foundation!

You can click on this link to make a donation.

https://www.crowdrise.com/goodweave-se/fundraiser/juliedasherrugs

Thanks so much!

Watch this moving video which shows the wonderful work Goodweave is doing.

Countdown to Highpoint Market

We are very excited to be exhibiting at Highpoint market for the first time the week of October 18th! Our booth is being transformed into a colorful display of our rug designs that were made all over the world.  If you are heading to Highpoint, please stop by and visit us in Suites at Market Square #M-1044.

Here are the 4 runners we had made for the show.  Stop by the booth and fill out your entry to win one of these runners!

VIDEO: STAND WITH SANJU...TOUCH YOUR HEART AND WATCH SANJU'S STORY

On the heels of the amazing announcement that Goodweave's founder, Kailash Satyarthi, just won the Nobel Peace Prize, I wanted to share with you this touching video. Warm your heart...

The story of Sanju was made possible by a grant from the Skoll Foundation.  
The Skoll Foundation was created in 1999 by Jeff Skoll, the first employee and first president of eBay. Its mission is to advance systemic change in communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs, who are individuals dedicated to pioneering new solutions that result in lasting improvements to complex social problems. More information is available at www.skollfoundation.org.

GOODWEAVE FOUNDER WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

This is such amazing and exciting news...that GoodWeave’s founder, Kailash Satyarthi, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday.  He shares this honor with Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for campaigning on behalf of girls’ education.

Julie Dasher Rugs supports Goodweave's mission as a licensed importer.  We donate a percentage of our profits to this wonderful cause.  As you consider purchasing a beautiful rug, keep in mind that there are still hundreds of thousands of children enslaved to the loom making rugs and losing their childhood.  

In the announcement from Oslo, committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said: “Children must go to school and not be financially exploited. It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected. In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation.”

Look for the Goodweave label on your rug to assure that only adult artisans worked to make your rug.

Julie Dasher Rugs/Lotus and Rings design

VIDEO: Learn the steps to creating a custom rug

Watch our new video and learn the steps to creating a custom rug.  It is 1, 2, 3... couldn't be simpler.

1.  Pick a pattern from our website...over 350 to choose from...order a colored rendering in your size and colors.

2.  Order a strike off...either 1 X 1 foot or 2 X 2 foot.

3.  Order your beautiful custom rug...be it a work of art or a textural backdrop...it will be unique and special to your room.

Click here to watch our video

Julie Dasher Rugs in COVER magazine's Highpoint Preview

Partnering with my interior designer clients is such fun!  Recently, Susan Brunstrum, owner of Sweet Peas Design in Chicago, IL and I collaborated on a beautiful Lily Pad rug for her client's dining room.  COVER magazine, the international trade magazine for the rug industry, picked up on the image of the rug and featured it in their Highpoint Preview.

Julie Dasher Rugs will be exhibiting at Highpoint Market for the first time this October.  We are very excited and busy preparing the booth.  Hope to see you there the week of October 18th in Highpoint, NC.

Help end child labor in rug making--Buy Goodweave-certified rugs

You may have seen the recent study by Harvard University that documented more than 3,000 cases of forced labor in India’s handmade carpet sector.  Awareness of this tragedy is the beginning of the end of child labor.  According to Goodweave, the non-profit based in Washington, D.C. working to end child labor in the handmade rug industry, there are over 250,000 children in Southeast Asia losing their childhoods due to bonded labor on the loom.

I don't believe that there any many people in this world who would knowingly buy rugs made by children.  To be sure that your rug is not made by a child, you can buy a Goodweave-certified rug.

Julie Dasher Rugs is a licensed importer with Goodweave and every one of our rugs has a label on the back of the rug which documents that it is child-labor free.  We donate a percentage of our profits each year to support education and community service in our weaving communities.

Photo courtesy of Goodweave

 Contact us to learn more or if you have other questions about our handmade rugs.

Hand-woven rugs a “knotty” business for our Rug Guru - Sweet Peas Design

Susan Brunstrum, Principal of Sweet Peas Design in Chicago, speaks to our hand-knotted rugs.  Click on this link to see a beautiful Lily Pad rug created for one of her clients.

Hand-woven rugs a “knotty” business for our Rug Guru - Sweet Peas Design