Raffia is a flexible and strong plant material, used in Madagascar for centuries for all kinds of everyday objects.
It's the local rope!
The artisans who weave it have a wide variety of stitches and techniques at their disposal.
For our raffia rugs, the artisans of Rouge Beauté, the association in the North West of Madagascar, use very large and heavy raffia, for which they create colorful dyes.
They then braid the long raffia threads, varying the patterns and colors.
This long braid is then assembled in a circle and sewn.
Each of the 100 artisans in the association has her own way of braiding, her favorite colors, her blended or contrasting effects.
Here are different types of braiding:
- mottled braiding: the braid is made of mixed threads of several colors - this gives a falsely uniform muddled effect, which almost looks like wool.
- spiral braiding: a hypnotic effect - here the plain blue braids and the plain natural raffia braids alternate.
- three-color braiding: the braid made of 3 threads has 3 different colors
- two-tone braiding: the braid is made of three threads but in two colors
One of the colors takes precedence over the other alternately on this model.
- monochrome... which never really is, the color always vibrates and shows nuances on the surface
- and of course we have models where everything alternates!
here two-tone + three-tone:
here a myriad of colors:
and there an alternation of two-tone and plain braid which contrasts, to then give way to the tricolor:
So we have very different effects, very soft carpets like this golden yellow and white carpet:
or contrasting rugs, such as those made in black and white with different patterns.
In short, there is something for everyone, as long as you are a little wild in decoration, and you agree to enhance your interior with a round rug , which can be a barrier for some - I am well aware of that!
