IN CONVERSATION WITH ERIN TALGO
In a world of fast furniture, Erin Talgo is honoring the traditional practice of rug making from Morocco. She left the corporate world as a professional buyer for some of the industries biggest brands, after repeatedly encountering the tragic conditions in factories producing goods for companies overseas.
Her deep admiration for the creative process of a master craftsperson set her on the journey to source the most beautiful handwoven rugs on the market today. While on a visit to Morocco’s Atlas mountains Erin was introduced to a group of Berber women weavers and was entranced with their dedication to their craft.
Erin works directly with this group of women, creating each rug using traditional looming methods that have been around for centuries. She designs her collections with a fresh modern eye that nods to the history of the Beber culture. Paying fair wage and encouraging us to all think more sustainably about the items we put into our homes.
We are absolutely so excited to chat with Erin this week and learn more about how she got started in the industry and some exciting new materials she will be using in her next collection.
When were you first exposed to design?
Art was always my favorite but National Geographic so like I know it's definitely not a thing but National Geographic. Growing up I actually wanted to be an archaeologist so my friends make a lot of fun of me CU I was like an outdoor like I was like catching frogs I was like really an outdoorsy like quirky kid yeah I was no I know, take it all in I know it's wild but I love National Geographic.
I used to take all the magazines and I would rip out the pages in the book, Nat Geo has the best photography and storytelling. I would see all these beautiful Artisan pieces like pottery and necklaces. Like I grew up in Jersey where there's like there's definitely a lot of culture but it's not like worldly, my parents didn't travel growing up, the first trips I ever took outside the country were actually like spring break trips with my high school that like I had to babysit to pay for I'm like literally laughing.
So it was National Geographic and actually to this day I still have that box that has the articles with all the places that I want to go yeah it's at my house.
That’s actually really cool too because like then when you got started uh like in I know it was more in the corporate world but like you got to go to so many places and like experience really full circle.
Yes, the power of manifestation.
Okay who is your current most stalked inspiration like what or who okay it doesn't have to be a person but if we were to go to your Instagram or your search history what are you hyper focused on right now as inspiration?
I have been pretty obsessed with Flamingo Estate , um okay so I really don't know a lot about this guy but his name's Harvey if he ever sees this I'll probably just lay down and die. He just, everything he curates his brand is so amazing. Flamingo estate is up near Malibu in California and he lives in this beautiful garden, he writes these newsletters and his writing is beautiful. He has a way of Storytelling, his voice really comes through, his marketing is impeccable um and really like I feel like the ethos of his brand is getting back to nature which is really something that's been pivotal in and a real focus for me in my career. Just getting back to how things were done, getting back to the artistry, getting back to things that were handmade, getting back to a time when people actually had a skill that they crafted and they honed over years if not decades if not generations to really become an expert in something. I feel like as a society we've kind of lost that everything's made by machines now.
Flamingo estate does a great job talking about is it like a brand or brand they do like honey from their Farm beauty products soaps candles that smell amazing. They actually did a collaboration with a different Moroccan rug maker um so it's similar. I feel like if they had rugs they would be somewhat similar to mine.
So Flamingo State is my current inspiration.
Erin, tell us a little bit about who you are, where you're from, what you do?
My name is Erin and I’m from New Jersey so I'm a transplant which in LA is pretty common. I’m from the Jersey Shore more specifically I usually try to gloss over that fact but it is what it is.
Who am I? That's a big question, um the first that comes to mind. I'm a new mom, and I have a six-month old James, who's pretty great for all the moms out there. It really rocks your world as I'm sure you know and currently I’m an entrepreneur. I started this business a year ago and quit my corporate job to pursue it. So Mom, Entrepreneur, Sister, Daughter, Wife, all the things, friend, dog owner dog owner can't forget the dog!
Why rugs ?
Why rugs so for those of you that don't know me, in my corporate career I spent 10 years in buying so I traveled, everywhere China India Vietnam Thailand, anywhere that you can think of that makes products. I went and I saw how things were getting made and to be perfectly honest I just got disheartened seeing all these factories. I would literally see old factories in China next to new ones because they would instead of just knocking down to rebuild they would just build a brand new one next to it, so I saw first hand the impact things were having on the climate of the people that were making the products.
I just kind of looked around after 10 years in the corporate world and I was like I just I've always had this burning passion to do my own thing, I feel like we’re not to get on a different topic but like we're at a pivotal point in society where like we need to be really conscious of what we buy what we eat what brands we support and I just wasn't seeing a lot of brands that were making quality sustainable product that gave back.
After working with so many other brand owners and seeing other people do it I was like why can't I give it a try so I quit my corporate job in buying and Merchandising I went on a trip to Morocco with one of my best friends. It was awesome, great food, awesome culture, just a great place to go.
I saw these beautiful rugs and just didn't see any that I thought would fit in my home um the color palettes were all really bright and bold there was nothing like natural soft organic that felt kind of like Southern California meets like sophisticated New York. Traditionally a lot of the Moroccan rugs are tribal prints, or different designs that are like part of storytelling because each rug weaves a story but I wanted to put my own take on the tradition. I decided to go for it and came back from that trip, this is November 2022, I quit my corporate job, my last day was in December then started doing these rugs and designing them.
Everything is made by women and sustainable. I work with a women's charity called free a girl so a portion of the proceeds from every sale goes to them and I just wanted to make a beautiful product that is made by women, that gives back and has the highest standard of craftsmanship.
What is your favorite material to work with and why?
So our rugs are obviously 100%, I shouldn't say obviously but they're 100% lambs wool and for me what was important was focusing on materials that are renewable and sustainable. When I say a renewable resource like a sheep that's going to keep growing its coat, it's actually healthy for the sheeps to get sheared, so I really like working with wool.
I'm starting to explore different types of wool like sheep's wool versus alpaca wool. I also just like wool because there's a lot of great qualities to it. A lot of people don't know this wool is actually hypoallergenic. There's like a special oil on wool that's like that coats it that actually is like a natural stain repellent yeah so it's funny a lot of times I'll have people be like, oh I can't have wool - I'm allergic to it, no you're probably allergic to the treatment that people are putting on wool in sweaters and on different materials and the chemicals that they're washing it with true wool a lot of people most people are not allergic to um so I would say wool.
I'm starting to get a little bit into silks. I have a vision of doing some higher end things down the road, you heard it here first! But definitely always natural. I don't believe in polypropylene synthetics. All of those things are never going to biodegrade that is a fact and they ruin the climate, in addition to the people that make them because there's a lot of hazardous FES to come off of them that are unhealthy.
What is your favorite material to work with and why?
So our rugs are obviously 100%, I shouldn't say obviously but they're 100% lambs wool and for me what was important was focusing on materials that are renewable and sustainable. When I say a renewable resource like a sheep that's going to keep growing its coat, it's actually healthy for the sheeps to get sheared, so I really like working with wool.
I'm starting to explore different types of wool like sheep's wool versus alpaca wool. I also just like wool because there's a lot of great qualities to it. A lot of people don't know this wool is actually hypoallergenic. There's like a special oil on wool that's like that coats it that actually is like a natural stain repellent yeah so it's funny a lot of times I'll have people be like, oh I can't have wool - I'm allergic to it, no you're probably allergic to the treatment that people are putting on wool in sweaters and on different materials and the chemicals that they're washing it with true wool a lot of people most people are not allergic to um so I would say wool.
I'm starting to get a little bit into silks. I have a vision of doing some higher end things down the road, you heard it here first! But definitely always natural. I don't believe in polypropylene synthetics. All of those things are never going to biodegrade that is a fact and they ruin the climate, in addition to the people that make them because there's a lot of hazardous FES to come off of them that are unhealthy.