How, for example, does that American collector know that the Jackson Pollock painting he recently paid $140 million for wasn’t created in the space of one rainy East Hampton afternoon when Pollock, bored with beating up his wife and sinking Budweisers, decided to splash some paint on a canvas before he got stuck into the whisky. Does it matter?Not if you’ve got squillions to play with, but for those of us seeking, at minimum, an understanding of what we are shelling out for, there’s a revival in the crafts movement, in particular rug and tapestry creation.

When it comes to rugs you need look no further than the success of the Rug Company and its collaboration with fashion designers – their Marni, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood rugs adorn floors and walls of the fashionable all over the world. Note I said walls, because in some circles these rugs are regarded as works of art.

“Our customers are searching for individuality, for craftsmanship,” says a spokesperson. “People want something individual that reflects their personality. They don’t mind waiting or paying for it.”

In the world of tapestry, one woman leads the field. Jennie Moncur creates vast jigsaw-like tapestries working with colour and graphic shapes set against visuals of foliage and flora. Initially inspired by the tapestries in the châteaux of the Loire, Moncur’s largest work is created on an industrial-strength loom, located in what she describes as “a kind of Army hut” at the bottom of her garden. Commissions can take up to 18 months to complete, leaving Moncur, a petite, softly spoken woman, exhausted.

“This is physical work,” she says, “but I’m passionate about it.” Moncur thinks that tapestry’s sudden popularity is a reaction to the minimalism of the Nineties: “Lots of people have homes that are ‘cool’, in a sense tapestry warms them – after all their original purpose was also to keep out draughts.”

So is tapestry an art form? Should we be investing? According to Moncur, one of the problems is that the discipline falls between the categories of art and craft. “There’s nowhere to see tapestry, it’s hard to find if you are interested in buying.” Sotheby’s and Christie’s don’t hold “tapestry sales” and the craft is dying; the Royal College of Art no longer has the tapestry department they had when Moncur studied there.

“Tapestry is absorbing,” says Moncur. “It competes with painting, but the colours can be denser and more vibrant. In a sense it’s a more personal, quantifiable adornment.”



jenniemoncur.com

coolhunter@thetimes.co.uk

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