DESIGNER AND ARTIST AMY HELFAND INTRODUCES NEW HAND WOVEN RUG COLLECTION

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Aug. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brooklyn-based artist and designer Amy Helfand launches a new collection 'Be Good Do Good' with 5 new designs.

Be Good Do Good: words seen in a Kathmandu square that embody Amy Helfand's feeling about her work and how we should look at the world. In this new collection, Amy has turned her eye toward traditional carpets. Featuring interconnected elements weaving over, under and through an ordered structure, the collection refers to classic Persian and Chinese designs while remaining firmly contemporary with Amy's signature use of color and whimsical lines. Borders are breached, medallions and symmetrical motifs are interwoven with asymmetrical lines and forms. Pattern is suggested and then subverted. The resulting rugs nod to the past while looking distinctly forward.

The collection includes Tiffany, Snowflake, Folklore, Peking in an area rug size and runner size, and Silver Runner.

Process

Superior quality rugs require a blend of the best materials, the best craftsmanship, and the best people. It's a formula Amy has cultivated by working with the same workshop in Nepal for over a decade and through the relationships she has formed with clients over the years. You can trace each knot in the rugs back to sheep that live high in the Himalaya, where the rugged conditions impart an extraordinarily soft, yet durable character to the lanolin-rich wool. Chinese silk adds a luxurious accent and visual depth. These materials are pot-dyed in small batches, giving the rugs their amazingly saturated and lasting colors, before being hand-knotted by a team of skilled craftspeople in Nepal using the traditional Tibetan crossed-weaving method. This time-honored technique connects her work to the past while creating beautiful, functional, and luxurious textiles that will survive lifetimes into the future. The result of this process is a rug of exceptional character with rich, vibrant color, supple texture, and rigorous quality.

About Amy Helfand

Amy Helfand made her first rug for a show in the gallery at Wave Hill, the famed public garden in the Bronx. She immediately fell in love with the tactile, luxurious, and soulful quality the weaving brought to her artwork and was inspired to further explore this new medium. Her first official collection of rugs was well received by the public and the press at Brooklyn Designs in 2005 and the business was launched. Since then, she has designed for her own line, as well as created many commissioned pieces for both residential and commercial environments. The collaborative process is very gratifying to her, both working with clients and with her generous and knowledgeable team in Nepal.

At heart, Amy remains a collector: images, forms and colors, as well as rocks, sticks, and other ephemera from the natural world. Her work has included photography, drawing, collage, sculpture and installation in addition to the current exploration of these luxurious rugs. She has a BA in American Studies and Photography from Hampshire College and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is the grateful recipient of numerous accolades, including the 2008 Best of Show Award for Carpet and Flooring at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. When Amy's not in her studio, she produces the House of Love concert series and tends her garden and family in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

About GoodWeave

GoodWeave is an independent non-profit which fulfills its mission by creating market demand for certified child labor-free rugs, monitoring supply chains, rescuing and educating children found on the looms and providing critical services for weaving families. Amy has been a proud member of GoodWeave since she made her first rug. The GoodWeave label is your best assurance that no child was exploited to make a rug and that other sustainable production practices were used.