Dhurrie weaving runs through Indian textile history as a parallel tradition to the knotted rug, older on Indian soil and quietly more domestic. Royal storerooms in Rajasthan and Gujarat held large dhurries by the hundred, and prison workshops under the British produced them at industrial scale through the nineteenth century.

The work took about two weeks on a horizontal loom under One. 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 colour register holds a red register as its principal value. The design is allowed enough silence around itself that the field never falls into competition with the border or the centre. Plant-derived dye keeps the surface alive across changing daylight; the same panel reads warmer in lamp light and cooler at midday, which is the working signature of vegetable colour. The composition rewards both a long look from across the room and a close inspection from a low chair beside the rug.

The piece in a room

2' diameter round is an under-furniture scale. Beneath a small dining table, a hallway console, or the centre of a foyer. The closed shape is its own arrangement and asks nothing of the surrounding furniture. Pairs naturally with circular pendant lighting and curved upholstery; the geometry of the room organises itself around the rug rather than against it.

Care

Flip the rug periodically to even the wear; the flat structure is fully reversible and reads identically from either side. Vacuum on suction with the beater bar off. Blot spills with cold water and a drop of mild soap, working from the outside in to avoid spreading. Professional dry clean every three years preserves the finish and lifts dust the vacuum will not reach.

Reference

• Medium: hand-woven jute flatweave
• Dimensions: 2' diameter (61 cm)
• Construction: weft-faced flatweave, no pile
• Hands: 1 weaver, about two weeks
• Pile: none, flatweave structure
• Origin: India

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