PRESS RELEASE JULY 2019

AMY KENT COLLABORATES WITH PHOTOGRAPHER & DESIGNER EDDIE

WREY AT DECOREX 2019

The Collaboration

Continuing her ‘Art on Rugs’ collection that debuted at Decorex 2017, Amy will be presenting her collaboration with photographer and designer Eddie Wrey at Decorex this year. The series consists of 4 rugs based on Eddie’s textile designs. The rugs are ethically handmade in Kathmandu, Nepal. They are 100-150 knots/sq inch and are hand knotted using wool and art silk in the Nepalese weave technique. They cost £750-820/sqm. Lead time 20-24 weeks.

About Eddie Eddie’s design journey began with endless doodling while studying organic chemistry at university. For him this slightly obsessive drawing of intricate shapes became a type of meditation, a cathartic way of processing his thoughts while revising, and later on between flights and photo shoots while travelling as a photographer. Finally he developed the boxes and boxes of drawings he’d accumulated into repeat patterns during a screen printing course on Harrow Road at the weekends. With these block screens he hand printed his designs onto cottons, linens and lining papers. Soon he was receiving commissions for curtains, wallpaper and upholstery for friends and family. He loved nothing more than going to antique fairs and finding chairs, ottomans and even sofas (often Edwardian) and transforming them into modern bold pieces with his graphic primary coloured prints. What started off as a sideline hobby then developed into commercial commissions for interior designers such as Kiri Barker of Trend and Fayre and private clients including Christa d’Souza.

About Amy

Part of a large family living in Wiltshire, who are all involved in the arts, interiors, heritage, the environment and property, it was inevitable that Amy would find her own creative path. She studied History of Art at University, loved to travel and cook, and dreamt of putting food on her own table one day by being involved in something design led. It was while travelling in India that she met a husband and wife team and their cottage industry rug company, and was enraptured by this skill, setting her on the path to creating her own business. After 13 years, Amy has become part of the extended family who bring her rugs to life with a skill and craftsmanship that continues to amaze. Since then she has also started working with craftsmen in Kathmandu, Nepal. Collaborations with Artists and Florists bring individuality to the rug designs and the rooms they finally embrace. Working with Care & Fair, a charity ensuring no child labour or unethical practices are employed during the making of the rugs, and supporting schools and education in India and Kathmandu, brings further fulfilment to her work. Nothing, other than another order via a delighted customer, makes Amy happier than family, living for the moment and fusing sustainability and thoughtfulness into her work. www.amykent.co.uk END

For more information please contact Amy Kent / amy@amykent.co.uk / 07979 594651

Standen

Inspired while eating pomegranate for breakfast in Sri Lanka (where the Wreys have a family house), watching the seeds spilling all over his paper.

250cm x 280cm, £5,740

Geo

Inspired by Japanese art, Eddie wanted to create a pattern that was more simple and composed of clean lines as opposed to the intricate motives that he generally incorporates into many of his designs.

250cm x 280cm, £5,250

Jinka

This design was inspired by the body art of the Jinka tribe, a semi nomadic tribe that Eddie went to photograph in Southern Ethiopia. They take turmeric and natural pigment from the ground to adorn themselves, with dots, lines and dashes of bold colour.

220cm x 280cm, £5,051.20

Penguins

Eddie’s interpretation of a paisley design.

250cm x 550cm, £11,275