The Moroccan tribal rug entered the Western design canon through the photographs Le Corbusier took inside his own apartment. The simplicity of the line, the warmth of undyed wool, and the refusal to fill the field made the form legible to modernists who had no other use for a hand-knotted rug.

The pile is hand-knotted wool on a cotton foundation. 2-3 weavers shared the loom across 3-4 months, working at roughly 80 knots per square inch. That gives a finished count of around 460 thousand hand-tied knots. The dyes were prepared in small batches and the wool was lowered into them before being washed in clean water and sun-dried over several days. Every step is done by hand because the result depends on it.

The composition

An ivory field, charcoal lines, and the small irregularities of a hand-drawn diamond grid. The wool is undyed, which means the contrast deepens rather than dulls as the rug ages. The composition rewards an empty room. The dominant tones run to yellow.

What you are buying

This is an honest entry into hand-knotted collecting. Wool, cotton foundation, hand-tied knots, finished by hand. The price reflects the smaller scale of the piece rather than any compromise in the weaving. Used and conserved, it holds and grows in value the way every hand-tied rug does.

The piece in a room

5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) is the canonical scale for a primary living room with a sectional or two facing sofas above it. The composition is built to be read from the standing height of someone walking into the room. The yellow tones sit well against lime-washed plaster, raw oak, and warm metal.

Conservation

Rotate end to end every six months so light and traffic age the surface evenly. Vacuum weekly with the beater bar disengaged, suction only. Blot any spill with a clean cotton cloth, working from the outside in, and never rub the pile. A hand wash by a wool-trained conservator every five years keeps the dye bright and the foundation flexible. With this routine the rug runs three generations.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm)
• Construction: hand-tied asymmetric knot
• Knot density: ~80 KPSI
• Total knot count: ~460k
• Hands: 2-3 weavers, 3-4 months
• Pile: 8 mm, hand-spun wool
• Dye: vegetable and low-impact mineral
• Origin: India

Free UK delivery. 14-day returns. Authentic hand-knotted craftsmanship.