plural of carthen carthen - any sheet, blanket, cloak, etc. made of woven coarse cloth
This new collection designed and created by Mari Thomas and Bex Eliot is inspired by the carthenni commonly found in Welsh homes for centuries. Welsh woollen blankets woven in a remarkable array of traditional geometric designs and colourways were a domestic staple of our childhoods, from the iconic Caernarfon and St. David’s Cross tapestries to the humbler but equally comforting pastel plaids. Treasured heirlooms passed down through the generations; we were wrapped in them as babies and nursed ‘Welsh style’ by nanas or great aunts, covered with them when ill or cold – a nostalgic symbol of homeliness and comfort. In brushed and oxidised silver, these pieces echo fragments not only of traditional Welsh design, but of memory, of hiraeth, of home, in a cool contemporary finis