Digswell Arts fellow Allistair Covell’s London Streets rug has been named by COVER magazine as one of their ‘Top 8 rugs of the London Design Festival’.

The London Design Festival, which celebrates and promotes London as the design capital of the world, ran from 17th – 23th September 2017. Allistair’s rug features in the new Winter 2017/18 issue of COVER magazine and has been featured in their online article: http://cover-magazine.com/news/eight-great-rugs-from-london-design-festival-2017/

Having his work regarded as one of the highlights of the London Design Festival is a huge honour for Allistair and a professional highlight as his work appears alongside other international designers and rug companies, including Zandra Rhodes who Allistair has worked with in the past.

The surface pattern design of London Streets is based on a drawing from 2006; a visual diary of a trip around London recording the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the city. The carpet weavers in Nepal have faithfully translated the pen illustration into a hand-woven artwork which, composed of 150 knots per square inch, perfectly captures the fine details of the line drawing. London Streets is a testament to the heritage and the carpet making industry in Nepal, perfectly illustrating how old techniques and traditions can be fused with contemporary designs and modern aesthetics to create a woven artwork that is decorative, luxurious and unique.

Allistair’s artworks featured in two separate shows during the London Design Festival. At the start of the festival Allistair was invited alongside four other designers to appear on the Design-Nation stand at Decorex International in Syon Park from the 17th – 20th. For Decorex International Design-Nation created a special website which showcased the work of the selected designers: http://designnationshowcase.co.uk/decorex.

Allistair’s second event was the London Design Fair from the 21st – 24th, a show where he had a solo stand showcasing his new rug collection which included London Streets.

In October 2017 Allistair’s London Streets rug featured in Campaign For Wool’s ‘Wool Fusion’ exhibition on Baker Street, an event that was part of the UK’s annual Wool Week celebrations. ‘Wool Fusion’ marked the third time Allistair has taken part in a Campaign For Wool event and the second time he has been invited to appear in Wool Week.

As part of the promotion leading up to the event, Allistair’s rug appeared in the Daily Telegraph and was later featured on the Campaign For Wool’s website in their review of the show: http://www.campaignforwool.org/2017/11/09/wool-fusion-a-week-long-celebration-of-wool-colour-and-collaboration/