GoodWeave

Spotlight On: Creative Matters

Toronto, Ontario

Two decades ago, neither Donna Hastings nor Carol Sebert, founders of Creative Matters, ever imagined they would be known throughout the world for custom handcrafted rugs. Each woman started off in a different direction—Donna in fashion design and Carol in textile art. The fashion world just wasn’t artistically satisfying enough for Donna, and, as Carol tells it, her job "matching nylon broadloom to couch fabrics wasn’t at all what she dreamed of" when she studied at the prestigious Sheridan Institute in Toronto. What the women had in common was their principled belief in ethical manufacturing. As Donna explains, "When we heard about the GoodWeave certification program, it was absolutely 'yes—we have to do that!'"

Creative Matters, with its staff of seven designers, provides Nepalese hand-knotted wool, nettle and silk carpets to clients as diverse as the Canadian Embassy in Paris to a chic nightclub in Tokyo. Donna and Carol say their ideas come from a variety of sources in addition to their vast design library. "We’ve gotten ideas from a photo of an Indian building reflected in water and from a dried flower. Our ideas come from all kinds of things," says Carol.

The duo thrives on design challenges. A client asked for a rug that would run from one end of their house to the other, a length of 72 feet. "We had to rent a soccer stadium in Nepal to assemble it!" That kind of derring-do is typical of the women, who travel around the world for their work. One of their favorite activities is to "visit" one of their rugs. "I just love dropping in to one particular hotel in Vancouver where they have a 20 by 30 carpet of ours," says Donna. "I get to have lunch and see one of my favorite rugs."

Donna and Carol’s love of carpets, they say, has to do not only with their beauty but their longevity and character, a character that comes, in part, from the people who make them. Customers care about the rug weavers as well. "We get asked a lot if the rugs are made by children," explains Donna. "It’s nice to say we’re with GoodWeave. It gives our clients confidence in our work."

To see Creative Matters designs and learn more about the company, go to www.creativemattersinc.com