Artisan Series: "Toy Box" Tufted Rug by Emily Suvanvej

NOTE: This item is only available for shipping within the United States. 

The Details

"Toy Box" is a one-off, hand-tufted rug, combining tactile yarns into a beautiful, expressive design.

• Dimensions: 33" x 28.5" x 1" thick
• Weight: 4.4lbs

(Also see "Eve," created by the same artist.)

The Good

All proceeds from the Artisan Series go to P.S. Arts, dedicated to advancing equity and opportunity for children and youth by providing arts education in systemically under-resourced public schools and communities.

The Process

Tufting rugs is a massive undertaking! Not only does it take awhile to build the wooden canvas frame itself, gather materials from all the different sources, and design the piece, but then the actual act of using the industrial-looking tufting gun is a…. thing.

The part that probably takes the most time though is the sculpting/shaving — in order to make sure each shape has a clean, defined silhouette and also have a bit of a beveled edge, it’s super necessary to go through and separate each color piece-by-piece using a combo of tweezers, scissors and an electric shaver.

Once it’s all tufted and sculpted, you have to seal the back of the canvas with heavy-duty carpet adhesive, and then make sure the edge of the rug itself is folded back, cleaned up and tidy.

The Artist

Emily Suvanvej is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Portland, OR. She loves experimenting in both digital and tactile mediums, working within 2D illustration and animation, fabrication, stop-motion, VR, experience design, and more. Tufted rugs are her latest obsession — she’s determined to perfect the craft and make something fresh within the medium.

Follow Emily on Instagram: @emy_su