Rugsville Simone Rust Blue's Tribal Carpet 5' x 8'

Tribal weavings stand outside the city-workshop tradition. The drawing is direct, the geometry slightly irregular, the colour what the village indigo and madder pots could produce in a given week. The piece below carries that village-loom vocabulary forward.

The piece was hand-tufted in India by a team of 2 tufters and one finisher over 5 weeks. Long-staple wool was pushed through a stretched cotton canvas one row at a time with a tufting tool, then sealed at the back with natural latex and a cotton scrim that lets the rug lie flat without slipping. The last pass was carving by hand with long shears to relieve the pattern above the field by one or two millimetres. That carving is the difference between a tufted rug that reads as a piece of design and one that reads as a flat surface with paint on it. The piece reads at 5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) in rust and blue, finished in India.

The composition

Stepped geometry in rust and blue sits across the field at a reading scale built for distance. The colour blocks are slightly irregular at their edges, the way village-loom dyeing always produces, and that irregularity is the rug's signature. Nothing about it reads as printed. The eye reads the composition as a whole, then walks closer and finds that no two field motifs are quite identical, which is the point of a hand-drawn carpet.

The piece in a room

5' x 8' (152 x 244 cm) sits under a two-seat sofa and a narrow coffee table, or anchors a writing desk in a study. The rust register holds against pale walls and against warm wood floors with equal authority. Position the sofa with the front legs on the rug and the back legs on the floor. The composition holds at a low viewing angle from a seated position, which is the angle most of the day will be spent looking at it.

Care

Vacuum weekly with the beater bar disengaged. Every tufted rug loses fibre to a beater bar regardless of price. Blot spills with a clean cotton cloth, never rub. Expect light shedding for the first six weeks of use as loose fibres work themselves out of the pile. Density of the body is unaffected. Professional dry-clean every three years.

Reference

• Medium: hand-tufted 13-to-16 micron wool, latex bonded, cotton scrim
• Dimensions: 152 x 244 cm (5' x 8')
• Pile: 12 mm
• Hands: 2 tufters and 1 finisher, ~5 weeks
• Origin: India

Free shipping across India. Cash on delivery available. 7-day exchange.