The patchwork rug is a younger tradition than the weaving it draws on. Workshops in Turkey and northern Iran were the first to cut their grandmothers' rugs into squares and rejoin them under a single dye bath, treating a hundred years of provincial weaving as raw material for a new composition.

Each square was extracted from a parent rug in the eight to ten knot range per linear inch, washed to remove a century of foot traffic, and re-knotted into a new whole. The dye bath used for the overdye was indigo and oak gall, applied at low temperature so the underlying patterns survive the wash as ghosted geometry. 2 weavers shared the loom for roughly 3 months between cutting, re-knotting at the seams, and the dye work.

The composition

Colour is the unifier. Pattern is the texture under it. Some squares carry their original ivory grounds, lightened further by the wash. Others retain the rust and indigo of their first dyeing, now muted under midnight blue. The rug does not insist; it accumulates.

What you are buying

Comparable overdyed patchwork rugs from Turkish ateliers retail in Western galleries between $3,500 and $8,000 at this scale, before shipping and import duty into India. The pricing here reflects direct sourcing of the antique fragments and in-house assembly, not a compromise on the source material. The rug appreciates with use rather than depreciating.

The piece in a room

At 4' x 6' (122 x 183 cm) the rug occupies the floor between two facing chairs or anchors a small entry hall. The patchwork geometry holds at this scale because the squares are sized to be read at standing distance.

Conservation

Suction-only vacuuming, weekly. Half-turn rotation each season. Blot spills with cotton; the overdye is fast at the surface but a soaked spill can wick into the foundation. Hand-wash by a wool-trained conservator every five to seven years. Cared for this way, the rug runs sixty to eighty years.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool on cotton foundation, antique pile fragments rejoined
• Dimensions: 4' x 6' (122 × 183 cm)
• Construction: cut, re-knotted, and overdyed
• Approximate density: 100 KPSI across the reassembled field
• Hands: 2 artisans, roughly 3 months end to end
• Pile: 8 mm wool
• Dye: vegetable overwash (indigo and oak gall)
• Origin: India

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