Rose’s rug business in full bloom
RUGS COLOR YOUNG WOMAN’S WORLD
By JODI HAUSEN Chronicle Staff Writer
Rose Caplette has her own business, but she’s not your typical 26-year-old entrepreneur. Part Crow Indian, Caplette also has Down’s syndrome. Caplette lives on the edge of downtown Bozeman, where she spends many of her days watching movies and crocheting rugs which she sells through her Web site, www. rosesrugs.com, and at her mother’s office on Main Street. She started making the rugs about a year and half ago and was giving them away to friends. Then she lost interest for awhile, she said. But after losing a job one day, she came home and found an outlet for her frustration in fabricating the rugs. “I got mad,” Rose said. “I took all my anger and made rugs,” she said, sitting on the couch in her mother’s wood-frame house recently and starting a new rug with her large crochet hook and some bright purple fabric. “The middle is the most important part of the rug,” she said. “You need a fancy color in the middle.” Indicating Conner Red Tail, her 5-year-old German shepherd-Border collie mix, she said, “He’s my assistant. He keeps me company.” Of her 20-pound gray cat, Max, she said, “He is the biggest fan of my rugs, he tries them all out.” The colorful, slightly off-round rugs range in size from about 24 to 30 inches and are handcrafted from strips of shredded fabric. They are reminiscent of braided wool or rag rugs, but are crocheted so they require no sewing. Prices start at $39.95 and go up to $54.95. The mother and daughter procure fabric sheets from thrift stores and donations, but Rose will also create special orders with fabric supplied to her, according the Web site. “A lot of people can crochet rugs, but Rose has an intuitive gift with color and that’s what makes her rugs unique,” Jenna Caplette said. Rose’s father is Crow Indian and on Rose’s Web site Jenna muses that maybe Rose’s gift is in her DNA from her bead-working Crow heritage. Or maybe being “’other-abled’ … gives her the ability to be truly intuitive in her work,” she wrote. Jenna Caplette said it can be challenging to be the mother of an adult with Down’s syndrome. “Being high-functioning has its drawbacks,” she said. “There’s a lot of support up through high school, but after that there’s not much.”
Rose and Jenna recently taught the rug-making craft to a small group of women in Bozeman’s continuing education program. Rose said she enjoyed the experience. “It was pretty fun. I was nervous at first, but after awhile I was swinging,” she said. “I did pretty well.” “The rug thing has been an opportunity for people to see how capable she is,” Jenna Caplette said. “I get a lot of the other side of people asking me what she can’t do. It was amazing to see her confidence with teaching. It was just a magical experience.” Although Rose would rather you not know, her full name is actually Catlin Rose Caplette. She was named for the famed American painter George Catlin, who depicted American Indians in his mid-1800s images. But she’d rather be known as Rose, she said. “I like my middle name better because it’s a flower,” she said. “I like being called a flower.” A Crow Indian family friend, who initiated Rose’s business with a $39.95 purchase of a rug, gave Rose another name – Rose’s Indian name -- “Speaks with Her Colors.” Jodi Hausen can be reached at jhausen@dailychronicle.com or 582-2630.
Rose Caplette works on one of her rugs while helping teach a rug-making class with her mother, Jenna, through Bozeman’s continuing education program. Caplette has her own business selling rugs through her Website, www.rosesrugs.com.
