Ikat is a resist-dye discipline, not a weave. The yarn is bound and dyed in patterned bundles before any of it touches a loom, so the figures in the cloth carry a soft edge that no print can imitate. Central Asian, Indonesian and Indian traditions all converge on the technique.

The work took four to five weeks on a horizontal loom under Two. The yarn was prepared in small dye batches and packed weft by weft against a cotton warp. There is no knot and no pile; the design is built into the weft and the rug carries the same image on both faces. The flat structure makes the piece fully reversible across its working life.

The composition

The palette is built around a multi-toned palette, with the secondary tones held back so the principal colour does the work. The slight tonal shifts in the ground are the trace of small-batch dyeing, where each vat carries its own register and no two areas of the field read identically. Up close the irregularity is visible as life; from across the room it gathers into a single considered colour. The composition is read as a whole. The piece reads differently against morning light than against evening lamp; the saturation lifts in daylight and tightens after dusk.

The piece in a room

At 5' x 8' the rug carries a six-seat dining table or a medium living arrangement. It expects a clean field of floor around it, two to three feet of margin to the wall, so the composition is read whole and the proportions of the room are not crowded. Pale walls push the colour forward; mid-tone walls let the rug settle.

Care

Vacuum weekly on suction only. Reverse the rug end for end twice a year so both faces age in step. Spot treat any spill with cool water on a clean cloth, working from the perimeter of the spill toward the centre. Schedule a professional dry clean every three to four years to clear the weft of trapped dust and bring the colour back to its original register.

Reference

• Medium: hand-woven wool flatweave
• Dimensions: 5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm)
• Construction: weft-faced flatweave, no pile
• Hands: 2 weavers, four to five weeks
• Pile: none, flatweave structure
• Origin: India

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