Reintroducing a Luxury Fiber to a Changing World

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New Zealand wool is a sustainable natural fiber with outstanding beauty, performance, maintenance and health benefits.

Today’s discerning consumers are looking for more than superior quality. Increasingly, they are seeking authentic, natural products imbued with integrity and sustainability.

NW Rugs offers several collections created using New Zealand wool, which is universally considered one of the finest in the world. We believe our clients appreciate our commitment to bringing the best products available to the market.

Integrity: New Zealand wool is grown in open pastureland following sustainable land use and animal friendly practices, resulting in fiber that is natural, renewable and biodegradable.

Health: New Zealand wool is non-allergenic and its natural properties provide inherent fire resistance, air purification and moisture control, creating an exceptionally safe and healthy indoor environment.

Comfort: New Zealand wool’s natural insulating properties result from wool’s unique biological structure, thereby reducing heat loss, condensation and noise levels to create a welcoming and comfortable ambiance.

Beauty: New Zealand wool’s superior quality enables extensive design, color and pattern flexibility, while wool’s natural ability to shrug off dirt and spring back into shape after crushing ensures long lasting good looks to complement and enhance any room setting.

Two of many NW Rugs vendors are -

Nourison: Nourison is one of the largest and most diversified producers and importers of handmade and machine made rugs. They found that New Zealand wool presented the best quality, so it began using it almost exclusively in its signature products.”

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Calvin Klein Home – Luster Wash Collection

Iintroducing the wash series, a mini collection of four rugs added to the luster wash group. Inspired by nature using a watercolor-like technique, each rug is imbued with a subtle and uniquely elegant patina. luxuriously textured, our luster wash rug collection is produced with 100% New Zealand wool pile and reflects the highest standards of craftsmanship and attention to detail. offered in beryl, citrine, amber and chrome.

Sphinx by Oriental Weavers: “Always a fashion leader, the first Sphinx wool rug that carried the Wools of New Zealand brand was Patina, launched in 1998. Since then, Sphinx has expanded its use.”

Andy Warhol Home Collection

Andy Warhol was known for breaking the rules, harnessing the latest technology to express his ideas, and creating a new movement in Twentieth Century art to be studied and imitated for years to come. The Andy Warhol Home Collection is divided into design categories that span the different themes of his portfolio Factory, Pop Abstracts, Pure, Revolution, Signature, and Simply Andy. The Factory designs were influenced by the early textures and shading of Warhol's "Factory" period.

Eco-friendly Interior Design

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Interior design is all about creating aesthetically pleasing spaces that are safe, practical and in harmony with the rest of the surroundings. In order to carry this out effectively we must source the best materials, furniture and fixtures and fittings for the job, and in doing so, we inevitably have an impact on the environment albeit inadvertently.

These days with so much emphasis being placed on global climate change, reducing consumption, and recycling, interior design can be a bit daunting if we want to limit our carbon footprint and still get the effect we want. However, armed with the right information, it needn't be a big challenge and we can still create beautiful rooms that are stylish, healthy and that are environmentally friendly too. So where do we begin?

First of all it's important to note that every single thing we buy has an impact on the environment somewhere along the line either, from the way they are extracted, manufactured and processed, or from the distances they have to travel to end up in our home. Take for example paint, wood, glass, metal, textiles and furniture, each of which can have a negative impact if we don't know what to look out for but with a little effort and forethought, we are able to find eco friendly alternatives.

Paint
Conventional paint contains solvents and lot of other harsh chemicals and toxins but it is possible to source paints that have a reduced effect on the environment and that don't contain solvents, which are not only a much healthier option as they won't release harmful gases into your home and the atmosphere, they can be just as effective.

Wood
If possible, try to buy wood that is grown in a local forest so it doesn't have to travel long distances to end up in your home. Also, choose woods that don't have a negative effect on the environment. Look out for the FSC symbol which stands for Forestry Stewardship Council, an international non-profit organisation that will ensure that when you buy you will not be contributing to global forest destruction and threatening the livelihoods of people who depend on the forest or timber to survive.

Glass and Metal
Glass and metal are fairly easy to recycle and one of the advantages of both is that in most cases they can be recycled over and over again without losing any quality. Using recycled glass and metal helps reduce the amount of resources needed to produce these materials from scratch, also the process of recycling uses a lot less energy than what is required to make new glass and metal.

Textiles
Textile production can include processes like dying and bleaching which uses a lot of energy and will produce toxic gases which are then released into the environment not to mention the harmful pesticides that are often used whilst growing the raw materials. The main things to consider when choosing an eco friendly option is how renewable the product is, in other words, can it be replenished quickly, whether the product is dyed or if natural dyes are used, and whether a lot of chemicals are required to produce it. Some of the more eco friendly choices include organic cotton, wool and hemp although there are many others available too. Rugs made of these are one of the best, most cost effective ways to add sustainability to your home décor.

Furniture
How eco friendly your furniture is will depend on the material it is made from, how it is processed and what finishes have been used, so choose carefully. Consider buying second hand furniture or items made from recycled or reclaimed materials and doing them up as this helps to keep existing items in circulation and reduces the amount of perfectly useful items ending up in landfill.

When sourcing eco friendly materials for your interior design project, try to stick to the following guidelines:
- Buy from local producers and suppliers as much as possible as the less distance an item has to travel, the lower the impact on the environment
- Consider the type of materials you choose and whether they come from renewable and sustainable energy sources
- Avoid materials that contain chemical additives or that use a lot of energy during manufacturing processes
- When buying new items, try as much as possible to choose products that can be readily recycled after use or that can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner
- Consider low energy or energy saving devices and buy as much as you can from recycled or reclaimed materials

Finally, as a result of the massive amount of publicity given to global warming and the need for conservation of energy, many producers make claims about their products that are misleading or even false so check out the credentials of any suppliers claiming that their products are certified as natural, organic or eco friendly.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_McEvoy

GREEN STYLE; Hemp Area Rugs

Eco friendly decorating that’s stylish, practical, and innovative has finally hit the floor. Eco sensitive rugs made from diverse materials ranging from: natural fibers like wool to upcycled poly-silk blends to recycled nylon fibers to repurposed bicycle tires are fashioned into creative and innovative forms that will have you taking a second look at what lies beneath your feet.

Inspired by nature, Verde is a completely organic collection of rugs hand-knotted of 100% hemp and colored with vegetable dyes. Part of the "Naturally…Momeni" group of products, Verde is completely eco-friendly and will offer a environmentally conscious touch to your home.

Hemp makes sense ecologically and aesthetically. In fact, hemp fiber is stronger than cotton, and its dense heavy weave lays flat. Hemp Area Rugs have a naturally course texture, and will soften somewhat with time and actually become stronger as it wears. Hemp is also naturally resistant to rot and mildew.

Hemp Facts:

• Hemp grows without pesticides and chemicals fertilizers. It actually outruns weeds.
• Nearly every part of the hemp plant --from the stalk to the seeds--can be utilized for products such as cosmetics, textiles, and fiberboard.
• Hemp grows up to 150 times faster than trees and yields four times as much fiber per acre.
• Consumption of hemp products conserves oil and timber resources.

Momeni’s Verde Collection of organically hip rugs are hand-knotted from 100% hemp and colored with eco-friendly vegetable dyes. Decorating divas with chemical sensitivities will love this Momeni rug since it is free of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which are known to aggravate respiratory conditions such as Asthma and allergies.

Caring for Your Hemp Rug:

When cleaning your hemp rug it is best to first start with using water and a toothbrush or a scrub brush depending on the size of the area you want to clean. If the area is large, we advise taking the rug outside and hosing it down. It can be left outside to dry in the summer, or hung to air dry inside. Occasionally, water is not sufficient to clean the hemp rug. In this situation, we advise using a very mild dish soap or detergent along with a toothbrush or scrub brush to clean the area. After using the mild soap, it is important to rinse the area thoroughly as any residue left on the rug may give it a powdered appearance.

Use white vinegar mixed with a mild dish soap to protect colors when cleaning. 1 cup vinegar to 1 gallon water, or stronger, is recommended. Rinse thoroughly on both sides and make sure all soap residue is gone before drying. The use of a wet-vac is ok, but hot water is strongly discouraged (luke-warm to cold water is best). Colors should be expected to fade somewhat even with these precautions. Minimum soap and maximum white vinegar (only) is the best advice against color fading. These rugs are not machine-washable. Please note that naturally dyed products may fade when placed in direct sun.

See the entire Verde Collection from Momeni at any one of our seven showrooms or call if you have questions.