Cream Striped Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Örge Series

The stripes are made of the loops, not of color: a cream hand-knotted rug from the Örge series, knotted thick in India, where the rhythm of the pattern comes from ridges of differing height across an even tone.

01The Wool on the surface

High wool content, a little cotton, viscose in some batches. Five sizes are made; 130 × 190 cm (4'3" × 6'3") is the one most often taken, and an 80 cm runner reaches 300 cm. There is one of it left. Cream at this weight of yarn does not read as pale — it reads as substantial, because the shadow between the ridges supplies the contrast that the color does not. The effect is rustic and modern at once, and it depends on the light: in raking afternoon sun the stripes stand up sharply, at midday they nearly vanish.

02Where it is laid

Against oak, walnut or any floor where natural material is the theme, it completes the room rather than decorating it. Minimal and Scandinavian rooms are what it is usually bought for. Every knot is tied by hand by weavers in India, and the density of that work is what you feel walking across it. Two limits are worth stating. Crumbs and grit find their way between the thick loops, so it is not the rug for a kitchen in daily use.

03From ground to pile

And the wool content is high enough that Halıcızade steers anyone with respiratory sensitivity away from it — a pile of this weight holds lint and dust, which is also why vacuuming it clears the air of the room around it. Run the vacuum over it with the rotating brush switched off, and the loops will keep their shape for years longer. Hand-knotted in India, thick loops tied one at a time. Predominantly wool, with a little cotton and viscose in some batches. Stripes formed by ridges of differing height rather than by contrasting color. Cream throughout, with the shadow between ridges doing the work of contrast. Not recommended for a kitchen in daily use. The house steers people with respiratory sensitivity away from it, because of the wool. Five sizes in all, the largest 200 × 300 cm, with a runner 80 cm wide and 300 cm long. No rotating brush on the vacuum; a rug washer for anything deeper. Customers describe wanting to lie down on it, which is not a specification and is the most consistent thing anyone says about the Örge series.