Rug weaving in this tradition is taught from parent to child over a decade of apprenticeship. The first three years are spent only on warping and weft preparation. Knotting begins in the fourth year. By the seventh, the apprentice can be trusted with a complex border.

India is where this rug was woven, by 2 weavers working approximately 4 months from a graph called a talim. Thousands of persian-asymmetric knots hold the pattern at a density of approximately 200 knots per square inch. The pile is New Zealand wool, dyed in small batches so that no two dye lots read identically across the surface.

The composition

Read the field as beige laid across a calmer ground, with the Gabbeh motif acting as the tempo of the composition. The colour interaction is what carries the rug. Vegetable dye does not sit flat the way pigment printing does. It pools and breathes within each fibre, which is why the surface registers as living rather than as printed. The drawing varies subtly from row to row because the loom itself imposes a rhythm that no graph paper can fully capture.

What you are buying

At £1,499 the rug is an entry point to collecting hand-finished wool work. The fibre, the knot count, and the loom discipline match pieces sold at multiples of this price by Western dealers. Hand-knotted carpets do not depreciate. The pile compresses into a soft sheen, the dye deepens, and the rug is worth more in twenty years than it is today.

The piece in a room

At the size as listed, the rug holds its place as the focal element of a considered room. Pair with quiet upholstery and warm wood so the beige field reads as the work the rest of the composition is arranged around.

Conservation

Rotate a half turn each spring and autumn so light and traffic age the fibre evenly. Vacuum weekly with suction only and the beater bar disengaged. Blot spills with clean cotton, never rub. A trained wool conservator should hand-wash the rug every five to seven years. With this care the rug runs eighty years and outlives its first owner.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted New Zealand wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: size as listed
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Knot density: ~200 KPSI
• Hands: 2 weavers, approximately 4 months
• Pile: 9-11 mm, hand-spun
• Dye: vegetable
• Origin: India

Free UK delivery. 14-day returns. Authentic hand-knotted craftsmanship. Arrives crated for safe long-haul transit.