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Boucharouite are traditional Berber carpets made of rags in Morocco.

When Canada-born, Paris-based designer Calla Haynes decided to put her namesake fashion label on hold in 2015, she was left with an archive of fabric. “I felt particularly attached to it because it included so many original prints and so many fabrics I’d had custom made,” she says. “I really wanted to do something meaningful with it.”

Instead of selling or discarding this surplus, Haynes decided to put her materials toward creating boucharouite, traditional Berber carpets made of rags in Morocco. “It was something on my radar that I always thought was beautiful, and I thought it would be amazing to upcycle the fabric into these rag rugs,” she explains. Once Haynes located a group of artisans who were able to produce boucharouite rugs (she says they’re better known as a vintage style of rug, often in the shadows of their Moroccan carpet counterparts), the team spent over a year on product development, a long-distance period of correspondence that took place in English, French, Arabic and Berber.

Made in the region of Zarkten, about 100 kilometres southeast of Marrakesh, each carpet takes 30 to 40 hours to weave, with a total production time of about two months. While Haynes provides the materials and direction on the colours of each carpet, the design of the graphics is a joint effort. “We’ve really come to a true collaboration where we meet somewhere in the middle of their aesthetic and my ideas,” she says. “I have so much respect for their craft and their way of working,” says Haynes.

The Boucharouite Project is making its Canadian debut April 5 at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street location in Toronto as part of the H Project, a specialty department of socially responsible products sourced locally and abroad. A sampling of pieces from the collection will be on display until June 4, and will be available through a made-to-order program in two different weave techniques and sizes. While Haynes is still working through her own textile archive, she’s also sourced leftover fabric from the manufacturing of other luxury designer collections – on average, 30 per cent of materials intended for these productions are not used.

The resulting rugs are sustainably produced luxury goods that tell a story. “It’s a true meeting of a European luxury mindset with this Berber craft mindset,” says Haynes. “It’s great to bring cultures together and be able to continue these crafts in a modern way.”

THIS WEEK’S STYLE HAPPENINGS

Vancouver-based florist Fleur de Villes is presenting its Floral Mannequin Series at six shopping centres across Canada. The five-day exhibition opens April 11 at Place Ste-foy in Québec City and pairs 90 local florists with a brand to design fashion-inspired floral displays, with each mannequin dressed in a custom design made of hundreds of flowers. After Québec City, it will tour Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. For more information, visit www.fleursdevilles.com.

For the first time in its annual Art Event collection, IKEA has partnered with an artist based in Canada. Nathan Jurevicius joins seven international artists who each created a glass figurine for the collection, available now. His owl figurine was inspired by his Lithuanian heritage and is complemented by other unusual designs such as an eye, a cat and a fox. For more information, visit www.ikea.ca.

Two Canadian retailers are launching new charitable initiatives. Quebec City-based Simons is launching Bee the Change, a new collection from its in-house label, Twik. Inspired by the habitat of the honeybee, $8 from the sale of each item is going toward the brand’s urban beehive project in collaboration with Alvéole, a non-profit bee-focused organization. Meanwhile, Toronto-based Kotn is holding its first-ever sale. Kotn will match every dollar saved, and donate this toward building a school in Egypt for the children of cotton farmers. The sale runs now until the end of April at its Toronto store and online.

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