Mio Karo

Carolina Melis is a creative jack-of-all-trades who started her career as a choreographer before moving into design. She specialised in illustration and animation direction at Central Saint Martins in London. She then went on to work on a number of creative projects from high profile commercials to music videos, corporate identities, textile and set design.

One of her more recent ventures is Mio Karo, a company that produces fine rugs and wall hangings inspired by Sardinian traditional motifs. Handmade in the small village of Nule in Sardinia, the rugs and wall hangings are made using,

“…the pibiones weaving technique (that) is most commonly found in the central and eastern areas of Sardinia. This is a particular type of stitched relief, created from the countless grains that make up the design. These are made by twisting the yarn around a needle which is arranged in a horizontal position on the loom; the needle is then pulled away, thereby creating a raised effect (grains). Operated entirely by hand, including the slay mechanism, i.e. the working phase effected by a complicated mechanism moved by the hands and feet which tightens the weft yarns one against the other once they have passed over the pin.”