Rugsville Opera Beige Brown Wool & Silk Carpet 8' x 10'

A wool and silk pile changes the way a transitional pattern reads underfoot. Silk takes dye to a higher saturation than wool and reflects light in a different direction, so when a carpet is woven with both fibres the silk passages are the ones that catch the room first. The Opera drawing uses that property deliberately, placing silk highlights into a wool ground so the design opens up under direct light and recedes again into the wool when the light moves on.

Three weavers worked this 8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) loom for about six months. The wool is highland-grade, hand-spun and washed before dyeing so the fibre keeps its lustre, and the silk highlights are introduced row by row with the same Persian asymmetric knot used for the wool body. Dyes were prepared in small copper vessels and matured for two weeks before any yarn was lowered into them. The carpet was knotted entirely in India, in the karkhana tradition that has produced the country's transitional repertoire for the last forty years.

The composition

A field of warm beige with a brown vine and palmette pattern running corner to corner, lifted by silk highlights that catch the light at oblique angles. The brown is layered, with two distinct depths visible depending on viewing angle, because the silk is dyed to a different note than the wool around it. The palette is restrained on purpose; this is a transitional carpet that wants to sit quietly with contemporary furniture rather than competing with it.

What you are buying

A wool and silk hand-knotted carpet of this scale, with this knot density and this fibre quality, prices in the European trade at $4,500 to $9,000 retail. Vegetable-dyed silk highlights in particular hold their value because the fibre is expensive and the technique is slow. The carpet appreciates with use as the silk passages develop their patina; nothing about a hand-knotted wool and silk piece depreciates the way machine-made flooring does.

The piece in a room

8' x 10' (244 x 305 cm) reads beautifully in a primary living area arranged around a sofa and two armchairs, or under a six-seat dining table. The beige and brown palette is at its best on warm oak or walnut floors, with off-white walls and brass or unlacquered bronze accents. The silk highlights mean the carpet performs differently in morning, midday, and evening light; rotate the seating once you live with it for a season.

Conservation

Rotate a half turn every six months so traffic and sun age the silk and wool evenly. Vacuum weekly on suction, beater bar off; silk is unforgiving of mechanical agitation. Blot any spill with a dry cotton cloth and never rub. Hand-wash by a wool-and-silk-trained conservator every four to five years.

Reference

• Medium: hand-knotted wool with silk highlights, cotton foundation
• Dimensions: 244 x 305 cm (8' x 10')
• Construction: Persian asymmetric knot
• Hands: 3 weavers, ~6 months
• Pile: 9 mm wool with silk accents
• Dye: vegetable
• Origin: India

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