Rugsville Contemporary Desert Wool Carpet 3' x 5'

The desert palette is older than any single weaving tradition. Sand, ochre, faded indigo, the warm white of bleached fleece, these are the colours every nomadic loom from the Sahara to the Gobi has settled on, because they are the colours the tents and rugs lived against.

One weaver at the tufting frame for around four weeks, with a finisher working behind them. The yarn was prepared in the same workshop where the rug was made; the small-batch dye process gives the surface its slight tonal drift. The back was sealed in latex with a cotton scrim, then the field was sheared at finish for an even pile and washed to settle the dye.

The composition

A multi-toned palette grounds the composition. The design works against this register rather than competing with it, which is the older discipline in carpet making. The colour was prepared in copper vats from plant sources, and the slight shifts in saturation across the field are the trace of small-batch dyeing rather than any lapse in the workshop process. The colour will deepen by half a stop across the first year as the wool oxidises against ambient light, and another half stop across the next decade of use.

The piece in a room

3' x 5' is a bedside or hallway scale. Place it where the rug is walked on at slow tempo, where the colour and pattern have time to register on the eye. The size suits stone, oak, terrazzo and concrete floors equally and reads warmly against any of them. A low light source, a floor lamp or a wall sconce, lets the wool catch its sheen across the day.

Care

Vacuum weekly on suction only; the beater bar will pull fibre out of any tufted pile regardless of price point. Blot spills with a clean cotton cloth and work from the outside in; never rub. Expect light shedding for the first six weeks of normal use as loose fibres work themselves out of the pile. The body of the rug is unaffected. Professional dry clean every two to three years to preserve the wool finish.

Reference

• Medium: hand-tufted wool, latex bonded with cotton scrim
• Dimensions: 3' x 5' (91 x 152 cm)
• Construction: hand-tufted through stretched canvas, sheared finish
• Hands: 1 tufter and a finisher, around four weeks
• Pile: 12 mm, hand-spun wool
• Origin: India

Free shipping anywhere in India. Cash on delivery available. Seven-day exchange from receipt.