The beautiful Armadillo&Co rugs featured in our feature today are all the more appealing when you learn about the ethical principles of Jodie Fried and Sally Pottharst, who found common ground in the idea of combining aesthetics and ethics, and started Armadillo&Co with a clear focus on social responsibility. They are inspiring, creative women designing beautiful products and making a positive impact on the communities where their products are made.

Jodie and Sally describe themselves as "consciously active" in the communities in India where many of their rugs are produced. Prior to collaborating with Sally, Jodie had already spent time in India and in 2001 founded Bholu, which employs women in India to create beautiful textiles using their traditional techniques and gives back to their communities via the Bholu Anganwadi Project. Armadillo&Co is similarly focused, advocating against the use of child labour in the carpet industry, and supporting the Care & Fair initiative in India, Nepal and Pakistan. Each Armadillo&Co rug made in this region bears the Kaleen label issued by the Carpet Export Promotion Council of India guaranteeing that no child labour was used in its production.

Jodie and Sally, what are your backgrounds, and how did you come to start Armadillo&Co together?
We found there was a real lack of simple, classic, handmade and fine quality rugs for our homes. Everything was fussy, had patterns, bad edging or was just bad quality and wasn't going to last. What we couldn't find we decided to make.

Jodie: My background is a production and costume designer for film/theatre. I studied a Bachelor of Design at NIDA and worked in the film industry for many years (including costume designs for Candy, Romulus My Father) . I was working in Bollywood and it was when I was there during the 2001 earthquake that I realised what was important to me. I fell in love with India and its people and the rest is history. I accidentally created Bholu, met Sally and Armadillo&Co was born!

Sally: Straight out of school I was given the opportunity to go back to my old school and teach art and design to the kids who had been a year behind me. It was such a formative time in my life and I had to take my role extremely seriously. I went on to study finance and accounting at uni, and worked as a chartered accountant in one of the big accountancy firms. After having children I decided to work in my family floorcovering business, and that is where my interest in rugs was born.  Art and design have always been my passion, and to collaborate with Jodie on Armadillo has really felt like getting back to my roots!

Ethical practices are obviously important to you; how do you manage this in India? 
We travel every year to India and spend time being inspired and creating new products. We find that we create the best when we are there, as we can see all the options and we develop ideas, new patterns and weaves alongside our weavers. It is important for us to connect with the weavers, the community and their families so they know the faces behind what we are creating. We also always visit the school we support. It is only then we can really see what is needed and how we can help.

Our products are meticulously made by hand and produced to the highest ethical standards, every piece embraces Fair Trade practices, is crafted from sustainable natural fibres including pure wool, jute, cotton and hemp, and all purchases benefit local schools in our weavers' villages. We aim for our rugs to lie lightly on this earth.

Which are your personal favourites?
We love them all! Each range has something different to offer. The Pebble range is soft and classic and very understated, it is our best seller and it suits so many different applications without being too eye-catching, it just melds into an interior. The Papyrus range is so simple and sleek and is reminiscent of rippling desert sands.  Our table top range of table runners and placemats has a very beautifully refined weave and brings a very rustic and textural quality to the table.