Merida
Company · not yet checked at the source · Image permission pending
- Made by
- Catherine Connolly (CEO); earlier owner Hiram Samel
- Date
- founded 1978 (directory listings); in Fall River since the mid-1990s
- Place
- Fall River, Massachusetts
- Held by
- Merida
- Themes
- Companies & modern tufting, Woven carpet
Cite this source
Research notes
Natural-fibre rug and textile maker in a former Fall River cotton mill. Began in Syracuse, New York, largely as an importer of sisal sold through carpet dealers; Hiram Samel took it over from relatives in 1978 and experimented with sisal. Moved to Fall River in the mid-1990s and centralised production there by about 2010. Under Catherine Connolly it moved from volume importing to rugs woven to order on heritage looms, with hand and machine finishing, in wool, linen, mohair and cotton; the company says it avoids synthetic fibres. Relevance: mainly woven and hand-loomed, not a tufting house. Useful as a New England mill-town counterpoint to Dalton, and to the synthetic-fibre story by deliberately rejecting it. Check whether any current lines are hand-tufted. Dates conflict: founding given as 1978 (craft.co) or as Samel's 1978 purchase (New England Home, 2012); Connolly's start given as 2007 (Boston Globe) and differently by Traditional Building. Confirm with the company. Independent sources: https://nehomemag.com/the-merida-mystique/ · https://www.traditionalbuilding.com/the-spirit-in-the-thread-meridas-art-first-approach-to-rug-making · https://craftcouncil.org/articles/a-slow-sustainable-yarn/ · https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/02/20/real-estate/when-obscurity-loomed-fall-river-bobbed-weaved