Tigers and rugs don’t have the happiest history. Poaching for tiger-skin rugs – still prized as a luxury item in some parts of the world – is one of the reasons behind the shocking decline in tiger numbers, from around 100,000 in the early 1900s to as few as 3,200 in 2010.
Over the past few years, we’ve worked with top names in the art world to create beautiful tiger-themed rugs to raise funds for our TX2 conservation efforts to help double the number of tigers in the wild.
In 2019, we invited 10 internationally renowned contemporary artists to design tiger-themed rugs, drawing inspiration from traditional Tibetan rugs showing images of tigers.
Their designs were made by a team of master craftspeople at rug specialists Christopher Farr, and use a range of traditional techniques and hand-dyed natural wools and silks. Being made by hand, each one of the limited-edition rugs is unique and highly collectible.
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As a finale to the project, in November 2022, we held a selling exhibition of the original 10 designs and revealed two newly commissioned rugs from Ai Weiwei and Peter Doig. The exhibition also featured a range of other tiger-themed artworks and jewellery, with a percentage of the sales being donated to WWF.
We’re so grateful to the artists who participated: Ai Weiwei, Francesco Clemente, Peter Doig, Bernard Frize, Gary Hume, Reena Saini Kallat, Anish Kapoor, Maya Lin, Harland Miller, Raqib Shaw, Kiki Smith and Rose Wylie. You can see their wonderful designs at the Tomorrow’s Tigers website.
To date, Tomorrow’s Tigers has raised over £1.1 million for tiger conservation. While we hadn’t reached the TX2 target by the end of 2022, recent surveys show that wild tiger numbers are on the rise.
Tomorrow’s Tigers was part of a larger collaboration with Artwise called Art For Your World, which aims to unite the art world in the fight against the climate crisis and nature loss. As well as tiger conservation, Art For Your World is supporting our work in five areas: protecting habitats and species, replanting seagrass meadows in UK waters, promoting sustainable lifestyles, tackling deforestation in the Amazon, and restoring forests with Trillion Trees.
Adopt a tiger
You can boost our efforts to protect wild tigers by adopting a tiger.
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For decades, we’ve worked tirelessly to secure a future for wild tigers. Now, as we approach a key milestone in tiger conservation, we need your help again
