WHERE ARE YOU BASED? IS IT POSSIBLE TO DESIGN SOMETHING REMOTELY?
Originally from Australia, we are now based in Barcelona, Spain, after spending 3 years living in Hong Kong. We are used to working remotely and to perfecting designs from a distance; in fact many of our clients are in the United States.
HOW ARE THE RUGS MADE?
Our rugs are made by hand using either hand-tufted or hand-knotted techniques.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAND-TUFTED AND HAND-KNOTTED?
Both of these are techniques for making rugs by hand. Hand-tufted rugs are made by hand and utilize a handgun to pass the fibre through a stretched canvas that has had the design traced onto it. With Hand-knotted rugs often the art of weaving is passed down through generations of a family and is the most traditional method of making rugs. A weaver works in front of a vertical loom and follows a grid-like drawing that reveals the rugs design and colours. Knot-by-knot the design is constructed.
WHERE ARE THE RUGS MADE?
The Palmer Studio produces all of its rugs in traditional rug making regions across Asia. Design work is done in our studio in Sydney.
DO YOU KEEP ANY RUGS IN STOCK?
Generally we keep only limited stock, as we prefer to produce in small product runs for our collections to eliminate possible wastage. All of our products are made by hand and so we are not restricted to a minimum order.
I LOVE ONE OF THE RUGS BUT IT’S NOT THE RIGHT SIZE. CAN YOU MAKE IT TO THE SIZE I NEED?
Yes, we are happy to work with you and can adapt any of our designs to the particular size or shape you require.
I’D LOVE TO COLOUR MATCH THE RUG TO MY INTERIOR SCHEME. CAN YOU DO THIS?
Our mills can easily match fibres to requested colours. Simply provide a pantone colour, paint swatch, or fabric sample. As the fibres are custom dyed for each order then it is no problem for us to match your requirements.
SHOULD I EXPECT A COLOUR VARIATION FROM A SAMPLE TO THE END PRODUCT?
As all of our products are handcrafted, there may be up to a 5% colour variation from a sample to a finished product.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BESPOKE AND CUSTOM DESIGN?
These two terms are often mixed up. Bespoke refers to a product or service that is individually designed or made from scratch. Custom is when an existing design is adapted to fit requirements (either by changing the dimensions, scale of pattern or colour of the rugs). At The Palmer Studio we provide a bespoke service as well as have the flexibility to customize existing designs.
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO GET MY RUG?
Our lead times for hand-tufted are approximately 6-8 weeks, however for hand-knotted rugs the lead times are more extensive and can take several months due to the nature of the production method.
CAN YOU PRODUCE WALL-TO-WALL CARPET?
We produce Wall-to-wall carpet as well as rugs at The Palmer Studio. Aside from being beautiful quality, hand-tufted wall-to-wall carpet has the advantage of being made to measure, and so there is no waste.
I NEED A STAIR RUNNER. WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
There is no one size fits all for stair runners and we have plenty of design options – plain, patterned, bordered, and multi-coloured. Our stair runners are all hand-tufted and made to order.
WHAT FIBRES DO YOU USE?
At The Palmer Studio we are dedicated to quality. Our preference is to always work with natural fibres as they are better for the environment, and are more wear resistant than synthetic fibres. We primarily work with New Zealand Wool and Silk, however also work with fibres such as Bamboo, Hemp, and Cotton.
New Zealand wool is superior to other wools. It is renowned for being the purest and whitest of wools, enabling excellent design, pattern and colour flexibility. Wool is durable, flame retardant, resilient, naturally soil resistant, and renewable. It is excellent for babies and children as it is naturally hygenic for them to play on, provides cushioning for falls and is allergy friendly.
WHAT IS THE MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY FIBRE FOR A RUG OR CARPET?
We believe that New Zealand Wool is the most environmentally friendly fibre as it is naturally renewable and biodegradable. No internationally banned pesticides are used on farms in New Zealand, and so the wool is an excellent natural product derived in an environmentally sustainable way.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SILK AND SILK VISCOSE OR ART SILK?
Silk is a fine and shiny natural fibre that is produced by silk worms and is very expensive due to the time, labour and skill required to produce it. Art-silk or Viscose is a man-made synthetic fibre, so is considerably cheaper than real silk. It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference, however Art-silk will be weaker, be prone to shedding, may lose its colour, and not be able to withstand heavy foot traffic.
HOW DO YOU DESIGN THE COLLECTION?
Our collections always begin from hand drawn sketches, ideas and inspiration that come from many sources. The priority is to ensure that The Palmer Studio designs are unique. We consider trends in fashion and interiors, plus pattern and colour forecasts to keep our designs contemporary. However we like our work to sit outside of being just trend focussed, so that what looks fabulous now, will also do so in another 10 years time.
DO YOUR COLLECTIONS CHANGE EACH YEAR?
We like to update our collections each year, however depending on popularity we keep favourites in production.
CAN YOU SHIP INTERNATIONALLY?
As our rugs are produced overseas, we can ship directly from our mill to any international location. We are also able to work remotely from our clients and find that with digital communication it is easy to share and develop designs for a project from a distance.
WHERE ARE YOU BASED? IS IT POSSIBLE TO DESIGN SOMETHING REMOTELY?
Originally from Australia, we are now based in Malaysia. We are used to working remotely with our client’s and to perfecting designs from a distance, and many of our clients are in the United States.