Todenham, Near Moreton-in-Marsh
Gloucestershire, GL56 9NU, England
   
telephone: 01608 650418
email: alain@alainrouveure.com

Mandalas with pearl border

Tiger pelt

Tiger skin & cloud border

For more information

Contact us on +44 (0)1608 650418
or
email: alain@alainrouveure.com

Alain Rouveure Tibetan Rugs

Alain Rouveure is a strong advocate for Fair Trade rather than Aid
and is a member of RUGMARK, a world organisation monitoring
child labour and working conditions in rug production.

By dealing personally and fairly with individual craftsmen / women
Alain manages to cut out the middlemen.

The result is a product of far superior quality than from high street
retailers at an often lower price for the consumer.

For over 25 years Alain has closely monitored the production of
hand knotted so-called "Tibetan" rugs destined for sale in the west.
The tourist demand creates a fickle mass market in which hybrid "chinesey" or "persiany" designs, or simply commercial decorative
patterns, replace many traditional motifs.

Not so at Alain Rouveure Galleries

Since 1979 Alain Rouveure has researched and documented over
450 ancient rug designs from Tibet. Each has a story inspired
by nature, folklore, the mystical symbols of Tibetan Buddhism.
Frequently bold, strong, vibrant and cheerful, sometimes touching,
they have evolved over the centuries through the efforts of resilient
and lively people - inhabitants of the vast moon-like landscape
that is Tibet.

All the Tibetan rugs specially commissioned and sold under
Alain Rouveure's label are hand-knotted in Tibetan wool exclusively.
This superior sheep's wool has been spun by hand and traditionally
dyed following ancient recipes using only plants and minerals.

©Alain Rouveure 2005

About our rugs

In the galleries any one time,
you will find over 200 rugs
to suit all room sizes, shapes, designs and colours.

With our rugs come a label telling
the story of its design, the pigments used and the names of the weavers involved in the production.

Alain's Tibetan and Nepalese friends
work the dyed hand-spun wool in an average 80 knots per square inch.
They recreate the traditional designs
and symbols into rugs of superb
quality, and the next generation
of collectors' rugs is born.

Tek Bahadur at his loom

The striking colours in all the rugs
are provided by nature and derive
from plants like indigo (blue),
rhubard root and Berberis (yellows), walnut skins and roots (browns), madder root and the crystallised
nest of cochineal (reds) to name
but a few. And remember,
with over 25 years of successful worldwide trading, Alain Rouveure's
label is not only a sure sign of quality,
it is also a guarantee that...

...no child labour
no use harmful chemicals
no environmentally damaging synthetic dyes
no looting of temples...

...are involved in production methods;
a guarantee too few producers and retailers can provide.