The Lismore CBD continues its post-flood rebuild, with Folk Modern joining the offerings in the CBD with their range of rugs from Morocco.

Sarah Etheridge and her partner, Dan (Director of the Living Lab) travel to regional areas in Morocco and buy rugs with a difference to offer them to the Northern Rivers.

Folk Modern have been selling rugs for 10 years, and most of this has been from North Lismore, but now they have found a large, welcoming new premises to showcase their offerings on the south side of the Magellan Street island.

It was a chance occurrence spotting the vacant shop, but the appeal of the place was immediate for what they wanted.

”We have a Moroccan business partner who's one of our best family friends. He grew up in the desert in the Sahara as a nomad, and his family now owns a tour company in Morocco, Loud Sahara.  

 Sarah, Dan and their Moroccan friend, Ali, were living in New Orleans, but Dan was missing Australia, and Ali was missing Morocco. 

“We were all into textiles, and so we got into the rug business.

“We travel throughout the Atlas in Morocco, and we buy directly from the weavers or their families and we can give them better prices than larger commercial buyers.

“By the time you buy a rug in the market or from a distributor, they've gone through at least six hands, and so you can imagine that money to the people at the making end is not really reflective of the end cost."

There are still hurdles to their business model that do not make what they do cheap, but the rugs come with a backstory.

“We buy what the weavers weave for themselves - these are what our favourite rugs are. Our variety is different than what you normally see. They weave a lot more wild and fun stuff for themselves than they do for the markets. 

“In Morocco, when you go into their homes, all their furniture and their beds and everything is just piled rugs. They sit on rugs, sleep on rugs, eat on rugs, they become furniture.”

Looking around, you can see where Sarah and Dan have set up some “rug chairs”.

“For the most part, they're wool. Some of them have camel hair, and some of them are recycled cotton. 

“Sometimes you'll go into the villages, and you'll see kids that have created this little motor. One kid will hold a sweater, and the other one's holding the motor, and they're just taking the sweater apart, and then they'll use the fibres to make some really cool rugs.”

You can hear the passion in Sarah's voice about this very unique product that is all around the shop, in piles, on the floors and walls.

“We love it. We love travelling. We love the colours. We have a pretty extensive personal collection of rugs.

“It's so cool. And it's fun for us. We want to have work that brings us joy. And hopefully, we can pay ourselves and our bills!

“And it gives other people joy. We love placing them in people's homes - it's just a fun business.”

The name Folk Modern seems to describe the business well, but does it have its own back story?

“The name came from our friend Jason Neville, who was saying, “Your style is folk modern. We thought that'd be a cool name for our shop.”

Sarah also makes jewellery and gifts, which are available to purchase at the shop. It’s a beautiful, creative and cosy place to visit, and Sarah is friendly and happy to chat about the unique aspects of her wares. There is even a map on the wall where she can show you exactly where each rug is from.

You can visit Folk Modern at 89 Magellan Street on:

• Wednesdays and Thursdays 12 noon to 5pm
• Friday 10am to 3pm
• Saturday 10am to 1pm