Modern hand-tufted design is a younger tradition than knotting and answers different questions. The neoteric drawing here is built around the questions a contemporary room asks: how to ground the floor without dominating it, how to add colour without crowding the eye, how to look modern without dating quickly.

3 weeks of work for a team of two tufters and a finisher in an Indian workshop. Wool was pushed through a stretched cotton canvas one row at a time with a hand-held tufting gun, then sealed at the back with natural latex and a cotton scrim. The finishing pass was done by hand with long shears, levelling the pile so the drawing reads cleanly across the field. The relief between motif and ground was cut to a couple of millimetres, which is what makes the pattern legible at standing distance.

The composition

The palette is ivory ground over a soft grey under-tone. A modern composition with the discipline of contemporary studio work: shapes proportioned to one another, no element competing for focus, the geometry sitting on the ground rather than pushing forward from it. The cut pile holds the colour and softens the edges of every shape so the rug feels considered rather than printed. With wear the pile compacts evenly and the colour pulls together, which is the patina the design is built to acquire.

The piece in a room

3' x 5' (91 x 152 cm) is the working size for a kitchen run, a small entry, a study under a desk, or a bedside. The grey & ivory ground sits well under furniture in oak, teak, walnut, or warm pine. The scale is small enough to layer over a larger neutral rug if the room benefits from a second tone, and large enough to anchor a single piece of furniture on its own. The drawing rewards the room being kept simple around it.

Care

Suction-only vacuuming, weekly. For spills, blot with a clean dry cloth, then mild detergent on a damp cloth if the stain resists. Professional dry clean every two years. The pile will shed for the first month or so as the cut fibres settle into the latex backing; this is normal and stops.

Reference

• Medium: hand-tufted wool, latex bonded, cotton scrim
• Dimensions: 3' x 5' (91 x 152 cm)
• Hands: 2 tufters and 1 finisher, ~3 weeks
• Pile: cut wool, hand-sheared finish
• Origin: India

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