RugMark USA just launched its eighth annual rug raffle, offering entrants, for as little as $25, the chance to win a luxurious handmade rug, designed and donated by New York-based Warp & Weft and certified child-labor-free by GoodWeave. Proceeds help support RugMark’s GoodWeave certification program, which works to end illegal child labor in the carpet industry and to offer educational opportunities to children in South Asia.
The 8-foot by 10-foot rug being raffled, Riviera Caramel, has a retail value of $10,800 and is currently available for viewing at Warp & Weft's DC studio, located in the Washington Design Center. Riviera Caramel is part of Warp & Weft’s Modern & Custom Collection, designed by owner Michael Mandapati. Handwoven in Nepal and made from pure Tibetan wool and Indian mulberry silk, the design echoes differing images from nature, from topographical maps to tree bark. (For more information, on this and the company’s other designs, visit www.warpandweft.com.)
As GoodWeave’s newest industry partner, Mandapati realizes the difference companies working together can make. “With strong child labor laws and with the help of GoodWeave we can make a difference by making it difficult and unprofitable for the practice to continue.”
Every ticket sold helps bring GoodWeave and its nearly 70 importer/designer members one step closer to ending child labor in the handmade rug industry. Raffle tickets are $25 each, 5 for $100 or 12 for $200. The drawing will take place on December 16, 2009, and the winner will be notified the following day. Individuals may purchase tickets at www.goodweave.org/raffle.
About GoodWeave
The GoodWeave certification program works to end exploitative child labor in the South Asian carpet industry by inspecting weaving looms and providing rehabilitation and education for former child weavers. To date, the GoodWeave program has rescued more than 3,600 children from exploitation on carpet looms and offered them rehabilitation, education, vocational training, and other services. The GoodWeave label is your best assurance that no child labor was used in the manufacture of a carpet or rug. For more information, visit www.goodweave.org.
