McQueen's Farewell

He was such a wonderfully gifted man. We wanted an opportunity to make something truly spectacular with him," says Chris Sharp, co-founder of The Rug Company about late fashion designer Alexander McQueen and the launch of his designs for The Rug Company.

Chris and Suzanne Sharp first approached McQueen in 2006. A world-renowned designer, McQueen had also developed a reputation for bold work, occasionally relying on shock value. But the one thing that he was known for, above all, was the quality of his creations. The attention to detail and the sheer mastery of couture.

This is exactly what lured him into accepting a collaboration with The Rug Company. "For him, it is all about craftsmanship," says Sharp. "He is interested in things being made extremely well, part of the reason why his clothes are so successful."

The designer was educated on the entire process of rug making, "starting from a sheep and a ball of wool," says Sharp. "You clean the wool, you hand spin and hand dye it, then knot it and hand cut it. The entire process is hand-made. He is a man of detail and this appealed to him." And for a design brief, he was left with no restrictions - a blank canvas.

"McQueen was very quiet and unassuming, quite unlike what you may read about his diva-like attitudes," reminisces Sharp. Months later he emerged with drawings which were divided into four themes - Hummingbirds, Feathers, Military Brocade and, of course, the signature Skulls.

These themes were translated into rugs and cushions by the deeply talented hand craftsmen employed by The Rug Company. Sharp relays the challenge in creating the Hummingbird design.

"The blurred effect of wings in flight was complicated enough," says Sharp. "It was knotted tightly and at a gradient, and each individual strand was slowly blended with the background colour." The Hummingbird rug is made of pashmina and incredibly soft to the touch. It takes approximately nine months to craft.

"We make rugs in exactly the same way as they were made 400 years ago," says Sharp. "I have great belief in the quality of what we do and that no one does it better." Sharp was hence confident in the knowledge that McQueen would agree to a collaboration. "The whole project took a couple of years before we had something we were all comfortable with."

Tragically, McQueen signed off the last creation just a week before he passed away, making this collection a posthumous one. "He was absolutely thrilled with it and was having trouble choosing which one to have in his apartment," says Sharp.

Knowing that no other work would emerge from such a talented designer, it is but natural to assume that these pieces would go up in value.

"There will be heightened interest in this collection, but we have not changed the price that was decided originally." Sharp believes these rugs to be a good investment for he believes hand knotting to be a dying art. "Buy a couple and put them in the bank. In 50 years' time, they will be highly collectible."