Anthracite Geometric Handwoven Silk-Blend Rug, Aren Series

The single figure on this rug is a disc — a planet, essentially, banded in gray, cream, red and rust across a night-dark ground. Aren Series Handwoven Geometric Anthracite Silk-Blend Rug: wool, cotton and silk, 277 × 358 cm (9'1" × 11'9"), woven in India. One of one. The anthracite is dark enough to read as the sky behind the form rather than as a background color.

01What the yarn is

Inside the disc the tones refuse to sit in flat rings; they wave into one another, and the silk in the pile picks up light unevenly, so the banding appears to have depth in it. Walk around the piece and details surface that were not there a moment earlier.

02A line from the archive

There is no border at all. The disc is the whole composition. Wool and cotton beneath, silk in the surface where the light is wanted. Months of hand knotting go into a rug of this scale at Aren density, and that density is also why the curved edges of the disc come out as curves rather than as a staircase of knots.

03After the color

Professional washing only; between washes, a wipe and a vacuum are enough. Wool, cotton and silk, knotted by hand in India. 277 × 358 cm (9'1" × 11'9"), and it will be the largest thing in most rooms. One banded disc in gray, cream, red and rust on an anthracite ground; no border. The banding shifts as you move, and the silk in the pile is the reason. Months of hand knotting at the density the series is known for. The series name points at the one grain of sand in a desert that catches the light. Professional washing; wipe and vacuum otherwise. A single piece, not a repeatable design. Give it a room with very little else in it and the disc will hold the floor the way a large painting holds a wall.