Baa Baa Black Sheep, have you any wool… Nursery Rhyme 1774

Rhyme Studio’s customizable design collection is made using the rich deep brown and undyed wool of the Irish Zwartbles sheep. It promotes the miracle qualities of wool and the health of the interior and our environment before any other consideration. Fitting for any project that prioritizes wellness in interior design, Black Sheep is responsibly made by hand from genuine Irish grown wool.

“Black Sheep celebrates a resilient and organic fiber for carpet and textile creation that was traditionally considered worthless. It is also a fitting metaphor for the needless marginalization of wool over the last 70 years and the phrase’s connotations of social outcast originate at a time when the fleece of the black or dark brown sheep was considered undesirable because it could not be dyed” says designer Claire McGovern.

On the contrary this archetype today represents an individual who is interesting because they are different and in the case of wool, a more sustainably desirable fiber precisely because it negates the dye process and must be celebrated in its most natural form. The Irish Zwartbles sheep meaning quite literally “Black with a white blaze” yield a high quality sustainable wool with a strong and tight crimp that is traditionally spun by historic Irish woolen mills and tufted by hand for Rhyme Studio. A resilient material that easily hides dirt, it is sourced directly from Irish nature to be used in the creation of new designs to be exhibited such as “Eye Amulet”, “Geometry”, “Cornu” and the basis for the studio’s first Luxury Doormat series.

Tired of buying synthetic fibre, non recyclable doormats that will off gas for centuries in landfill? Composed of hand tufted wool, natural cotton / linen & latex backing, our new Luxury Doormat designs are antimicrobial by nature and organic threshold mats that hide and trap dirt. Using wool that might otherwise be discarded, this is a renewable, environmentally sound and easily cleaned product that will last years with appropriate care or simply biodegrade at the end of its natural lifecycle. It is the new alternative to ubiquitous synthetic doormats that are recommended to be thrown away every 6 to 24 months. Easy Touch 1 is made from genuine Irish Zwartbles Wool.