Green Bordered Hand-Knotted Wool Rug

The green is the green of a forest floor rather than of a lawn — deep, faintly gray, absorbing light instead of throwing it back. Green Bordered Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, 169 × 238 cm (5'7" × 7'10"), knotted in India, with a wool surface, bamboo viscose in the motifs and a cotton foundation beneath.

01Reading the motif

One of one. A narrow band of fine motifs runs the whole way round and everything it encloses is left plain. That is the entire composition, and it works because a border does two things at once: it pulls the eye inward and it gives the field an edge, which a plain rug without one never has.

02What Wool does

In a north-facing room the green goes nearly black; under warm bulbs the bamboo viscose in the band picks up and the outline reappears. Wool at the surface, bamboo viscose in the drawing, cotton underneath holding the structure — knotted by hand in India, knot after knot, which is why no two rugs off this run have quite the same hand. A wool pile at this height is made for bare feet, and that is how it is best used.

03Color, by the light

A dark ground is more forgiving of spills than a pale one but it shows lint, so it asks for the vacuum more often than for anything else. For more than that, find a rug cleaner. Hand-knotted in India; wool surface, bamboo viscose motifs, cotton foundation. Deep forest green, plain in the field, with all the drawing in the border. The band brightens under warm light and recedes under cool. Soft enough underfoot to be used without slippers. 169 × 238 cm (5'7" × 7'10") — a sitting room, a study or a bedroom. Shows lint on a dark ground; vacuum regularly. Cleaning by a rug specialist. Green is the color most rooms already contain and rarely acknowledge, and a floor in it makes the plants look deliberate.