The contemporary Indian weaving studios have spent the last two decades translating mid-century European and American graphic vocabularies into wool. The result is a current of design that owes something to Sonia Delaunay, something to Anni Albers, and something to the original Berber loom, but reads as wholly contemporary. The piece is built in that broader vocabulary.

Roughly 5 weeks of tufting. The cartoon was projected onto the back of a stretched canvas, the wool pushed through with a tufting gun, the loops cut to release the pile. The latex backing was poured by hand and the cotton scrim laid down before the rug came off the frame for shearing and binding. A second pass with long shears settled the pile to its final height. The rug is offered in a grey register, made in India.

The composition

Colour holds in the grey register. The pile carries a slight directional sheen that pulls light along the warp. Walked from one end the field looks deeper, walked from the other it lifts. The pattern stays constant but the surface breathes, the optical doubling that no synthetic fibre reproduces. The borders close the field without locking it, the way a frame holds a painting without competing with it. The wool is the carrier here, accepting the colour without flattening it and holding the slight variations of dye lot that read as life rather than as flaw.

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 on suction only, weekly. Blot any spill at once with a clean white cloth, working from the edge inward. Light shedding in the first weeks is normal as the loose fibre works free of the pile. A professional cleaning every two to three years maintains both the surface and the latex backing. Avoid steam cleaning, which softens the latex and shortens the life of the construction.

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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