Gray Striped Handwoven Wool Rug, Örge Series

It is knitted more than it is knotted — thick loops worked by hand the way a sweater is worked, arranged in bands of different grays. A handwoven wool rug from the Örge Series, 250 × 350 cm (8'2" × 11'6"), made in India, mostly wool with cotton and some viscose alongside.

01The tone of the ground

One piece at that size. The grays run in linear rhythm, one tone against the next, so the surface stays orderly and still has movement in it. What makes the rug unusual is tactile rather than visual: the loops are large and raised, and the floor stops being a flat plane. Scandinavian and minimal rooms take it immediately, and so do rustic ones, because the thickness reads as natural rather than designed.

02From ground to pile

Against wood in any tone it settles at once. Made by hand in India, loop by loop, in a yarn that is mostly wool with cotton and sometimes viscose worked in. Two honest cautions come with it.

03Where it sits in the house

The loops are wide enough for crumbs to work down into them, so a kitchen in daily use is the one place to keep it out of. Wool at this thickness also collects lint and dust, and the right tool is a vacuum head with no brush on it, used often. Homes with pets have given good reports.

04From the hand of the weaver

Buyers describe wanting to curl up and sleep on the thing, which is their phrase rather than the house's. Handwoven in India in thick hand-worked loops. Mostly wool, with cotton and some viscose. Bands of different grays in a linear arrangement. 250 × 350 cm (8'2" × 11'6") — a large-room size. Not recommended for busy kitchens; crumbs work into the loops. Wool this thick collects lint and dust, so vacuum often and take the brush off the head. Homes with pets have given good reports of it. How is the Örge Series made? By hand in India, worked in thick loops rather than fine knots — closer to knitting than to conventional rug weaving.

05The Wool on the surface

The yarn is mostly wool, with cotton and sometimes viscose worked alongside it, and the scale of the loop is what gives the surface its depth. Is it suitable for a kitchen? No. The loops are wide enough that crumbs work down between them and are difficult to get out again.

06Where it is laid

Bedrooms, corridors and sitting rooms are where it belongs, and it wears well in all three. How should a thick wool loop rug be vacuumed? With the brush head off. A rotating brush catches the loops and pulls at them, while a plain suction head lifts what the wool has collected without disturbing the structure. Do it often rather than deeply. These rugs get described in terms of temperature rather than appearance, which is unusual for a floor covering and tells you most of what you need to know.