Tufting is the wool equivalent of oil painting on canvas. The wool yarn is pushed through a stretched canvas ground one row at a time, then sealed at the back with latex and a cotton scrim. The technique allows tighter shaping of motifs than knotting permits and a deeper, more even pile. The rug that comes off the frame has the body and weight of a knotted rug at a fraction of the production time.

Construction took 4 weeks for two tufters and a finisher. After the pile was set, the back was coated with natural latex to lock the tufts and bonded to a cotton scrim. The face was carved by hand to relieve the black pattern from the field by two millimetres. The wool was sourced from Indian highland flocks, hand-spun into a four-ply yarn, and dyed in copper vats before reaching the tufting frame.

The composition

Colour does the work. The wool was over-dyed in two baths to reach the depth shown, which is why the black reads with a subtle internal variation rather than as a flat block. The pattern was drawn for room scale, which means the geometry holds at six paces and only resolves into its detail when you stand on the rug.

The piece in a room

Bedroom or sitting room scale. The black field pairs with oak floors and warm walls, with brass and matte black hardware both. Black grounds are demanding; pair with high-contrast walls and minimal pattern in the upholstery. Underfoot it has the warmth and density of a deeper-pile rug; visually it has the geometry of a contemporary studio piece.

Care

Vacuum weekly with the beater bar disengaged; suction alone is enough to lift household soil from the pile. Blot spills with a clean cotton cloth, never rub. Light shedding is normal for the first six weeks as loose fibres clear from the pile, and the body of the rug is unaffected by the process. A professional dry clean every three years preserves the black saturation and lifts ground-in soil that domestic vacuuming cannot reach.

Reference

• Medium: hand-tufted wool, latex bonded, cotton scrim backing
• Dimensions: 2'3" x 7'6" (69 × 229 cm)
• Pile: 12 mm
• Hands: 2 tufters and 1 finisher, about 4 weeks
• Wool weight: roughly 2.4 kg per square metre
• Origin: India

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