Olga’s Garden

The hand tufting technique is a process combining centuries-old skills and modern weaving tools. The canvas is perfectly stretched over an upright loom and the craftsperson transfers by hand the future design of the rug with the utmost precision. Threads are inserted manually, one by one, working with a gun on the back of the canvas, following the colours, the drawing and the different tuft heights. PINTON was one of the first manufactories to use the gun tufting technique to produce some of its rugs and carpets and is the only French workshop offering very high quality tufted rugs. With this technique, production times are reduced compared to the knotted stitch weave or point noué. Finally, hand tufting offers a large range of possible depths. Carving is the technique that consists in sculpting the wool and creating textures within the woven rug. Since the early 1990s, PINTON has been specialising in the production of hand tufted rugs for which it also collaborates with famous designers and artists.

Wool is an animal fibre, most often derived from sheep fleece. Wool was already being spun as early as 5,000 BC. In Roman times, wool, leather and linen were the main materials used to make clothes. With the progressive development of mechanical processes and the evolution of breeding techniques, wool became the economic lung of several countries in the Xth century, and again in the XIIth. Renowned for its thermal and sound insulation properties, wool also offers the advantage of absorbing moisture. It is a noble and timeless material, used from time immemorial for its strength and durability. PINTON uses local wool with shorter carded fibres, which make it fluffier and give it more volume, or a specific type of wool from New-Zealand with long combed fibres that are more resistant to heavy traffic. Both types of wool are spun (carded or combed) and dyed in the spinning plant located in Felletin. Whether they are made in 100% pure virgin wool or blended with other materials like linen, silk, bamboo, leather or many others, PINTON wool rugs and carpets bring comfort and quality.

Maria Loizidou was born in Cyprus, and lives and works in Nicosia. She studied at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts of Lyon and was awarded a grant to study psychoanalysis in Paris with Armando Verdiglione, an Italian psychoanalyst and student of Lacan. This experience had a profound influence on her work, which explores the individual’s collective history and personal memories, and constantly finds new inspirations in her reflection on political and social issues. As a plastic artist, she uses materials as diverse as soil, metal, resin, cast iron or paper, as well as textile. Her sculptures, installations and videos may be laid down, fixed or suspended. Maria Loizidou collaborates with museums and art galleries around the world and creates public artworks.

For her first collaboration with PINTON, under the art direction of Yves Sabourin, Maria Loizidou imagined a vibrant yellow square rug conjuring up the sun. One gets lost contemplating the four elements represented in each corner like the clues in a treasure hunt, the beginning of a fairy-tale.