Cream Floral Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Sultanahmet Series

Cream Floral Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Sultanahmet Series: a pale cream ground with a thin vine running the border and open flower heads gathered at both ends. Beige, dusty rose and gold sit inside the drawing rather than beside it, so the color changes without ever breaking the ground.

01Knot by knot, by hand

Knotted in India, in several sizes. The vine is drawn narrow and continuous, and it does the job a heavy border would do without adding weight to the edges. Where the flowers open, the yarn changes: the field is wool and cotton, the petals are bamboo viscose, and the difference is what makes the pattern come and go as the light moves across the room.

02A line from the archive

In the morning the flowers are the brightest thing on the floor. By evening they sink back and the rug reads as almost plain. Tens of thousands of knots go into a piece this size, and the weaving runs for months before the rug comes off the loom.

03Coming off the loom

Wool and cotton carry the ground; the surface is knotted by hand throughout. Beside solid oak or walnut it looks like part of the same decision, which is roughly what it is. A cream ground shows what falls on it, so keep it out of the path between a kitchen and a table, and send it for professional washing rather than treating it at home. Knotted entirely by hand on Indian looms. Cream ground, continuous vine border, open flower heads at the two ends. Beige, dusty rose and gold are worked into the drawing rather than laid over it. Bamboo viscose in the flowers gives them a sheen the wool ground does not have. Months of weaving and tens of thousands of knots per piece. Sizes run from sitting-room to dining-room scale. Sweep it regularly; professional washing when it needs more. A pale rug under a dark table is an old arrangement and it still works, because the flowers at the ends are exactly where the chairs are not.