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.

Two tufters and a finisher worked the loom for 2 weeks in India. The process is straightforward and slow: wool drawn through stretched cotton primary cloth with a hand-tufting gun, latex bonded at the reverse, cotton scrim laid over the back, then a hand-shear pass to bring the pile down to a single height. A second carving pass set the relief between motif and ground so the drawing reads at room scale.

The composition

Ivory and washed sky blue, carried evenly across the rug. 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 hand-shear pass gives the motif a couple of millimetres of relief above the ground, which is what makes the pattern read across the room rather than dissolving into noise. Up close, the relief reads as a quiet sculptural detail rather than as a trick.

The piece in a room

2' x 3' (61 x 91 cm) is the format for a pooja corner, a foyer, a bathside, or under a low side table. The ivory sky blue palette holds itself at small scale and reads at every angle of approach. The piece adds a hand-finished surface to the parts of a home that otherwise see only manufactured floor covering, and at this size the rug also makes a considered gift. A piece at this scale settles the architecture of the room around itself.

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: 2' x 3' (61 x 91 cm)
• Hands: 2 tufters and 1 finisher, ~2 weeks
• Pile: cut wool, hand-sheared finish
• Origin: India

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