Creative Matters

Carol Sebert

President and Co-Founder

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Since 1988, Creative Matters has worked with interior designers and architects to create extraordinary floor and wallcoverings for luxury hotels, boutique retailers, offices, homes and diplomatic missions around the world. In addition to their extensive experience, another aspect that sets Creative Matters apart is the fact that the company is comprised of all women – starting with President and Co-Founder Carol Sebert. 

“Most people who study textile design are women,” Sebert explains. “All of the sales people at Creative Matters are carpet designers first, as it’s important that they understand fully what they are selling.”

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She continues, “It’s critical to me that they can design it before they sell it. We have hired men in the past, and it's not like I'm not ready to hire men in the future, but most graduates from the local textile programs are women.”

Spearheading the company’s success, Sebert has been involved with textiles since attending the Ontario College of Art and Design where she studied drawing and painting, and the Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning from which she earned her degree in textile design. Sebert got into the rug business three decades ago in Toronto where she got her first job designing custom rugs with her now-retired business partner Donna Hastings.

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“I have always loved textiles, even from early days of sewing my own clothes and doing batik designs in high school,” says Sebert. “Thirty years ago I was working as the costume dyer at the Stratford Festival just outside of Toronto and decided that wasn't a career choice (although it gave me tremendous training in color). I moved back to the city and got my first job designing custom rugs. I then went to another carpet company, designing program lines from India and China, but returned to working with interior designers in the custom rug business.”

After many years, Creative Matters is now able to work with some of the most respected and admired design companies in the world; creating custom solutions for high-end residential, corporate, hospitality and governmental projects, including the recently renovated Canada House in London.

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“Different countries have different design and colour senses and I really enjoy this aspect of design,” Sebert says. “New York and Toronto have similar, cooler colour palettes and subtleties in regards to textures, whereas the west coast has a love of natural fibers and rich colour tones. And then the islands – West Indies and Bermuda – can really handle jewel tones.” 

When asked what it’s like doing business with premier locations in over 40 countries around the globe, Sebert says, “It keeps us on our toes!”

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Creative Matters also creates and carries their own rug collections, some of which can be found at The Scarab showroom and on their website. Custom sizes, colors and shape variations are just some of the wonderful adaptations the company can easily do for even the most perfectionist client. 

Throughout the years Creative Matters has cultivated an impressive roster of talent located in places like Nepal, India, the Netherlands and China. According to Sebert, their work on hand-knotted rugs, custom printed carpets and felted wallcoverings is of the highest quality and created by those “who have truly mastered the techniques.” To guarantee suitable working conditions for the weavers, fair trade practices, and environmentally friendly production methods, Creative Matters collaborates with the non-profit Label STEP. 

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But before those pieces are created, designers, architects and customers often ask what the parameters are regarding what can and cannot be done when creating a custom rug. The answer, Sebert says, is that anything is possible.

“There are no limitations! We are forever being stretched by the creativity of the talented interior designers we work with. They ask for the impossible and we figure out a way to make it possible. It’s such fun!”

 
 
For questions about rugs by Creative Matters, please contact us.

 

 

Latest News

See Creative Matters rug used by Darlene Daugherty Enterprises. 

Check out Creative Matters work at The Canada House.

Featured Story: High Standards on Creative Matters.

"A visit to the Scarab is like a free day at an exquisitely curated folk art museum...the collection is rare, precious and sublime, the staff is friendly, knowledgeable and resourceful. Whether I need that special gift or perfect accent, I always know a treat awaits."
- Sarah D.