The bohemian vocabulary is a contemporary studio invention that responds to a specific collector preference for rugs that look as if they have already been lived in. Distressed surface, faded ground, the look of a piece that has earned its place. The pattern in this rug works in that vocabulary. The rug under consideration here carries that lineage forward.

The work took 5 weeks at the loom. Two tufters drove the wool through a tensioned canvas with a hand-held tufting gun, building the pattern row by row in a continuous loop. A finisher then sealed the back with natural latex, applied a cotton scrim, and sheared the surface to a uniform pile depth. The borders were bound in cotton tape by hand to hold the edges over decades of use. The rug is offered in a charcoal register, made in India.

The composition

Charcoal dominates the composition. The pattern works because the negative space is allowed to breathe. The motifs hold their place, the field around them stays open, and the eye is given somewhere to rest between figures. That openness is what separates a good repeat from a busy one, and what allows the rug to sit under furniture without the pattern crowding the room. The pattern photographs differently than it reads in person, which is true of every wool surface and one reason rugs of this calibre are ideally seen in the room they will live in before purchase.

The piece in a room

At the format here the rug suits a study, a smaller drawing room, or a primary bedroom. The composition pairs with mid-tone walls and warm wood furniture, and rises against off-white walls as a fielded ground. The size also works as the entry rug for a longer hall, with the pattern reading as one walks across it.

Care

Vacuum weekly with the beater bar disengaged. Every tufted rug loses fibre to a beater bar regardless of price. Blot spills with a clean cotton cloth, never rub. Expect light shedding for the first six weeks of use as loose fibres work themselves out of the pile; the body of the rug is unaffected. Professional dry clean every three years to refresh the surface and maintain the cotton scrim that supports the pile.

Reference

• Medium: hand-tufted wool, latex bonded, cotton scrim
• Dimensions: size as listed above
• Hands: 2 tufters and 1 finisher, ~5 weeks
• Pile: 12 mm
• Origin: India

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