Multicolor Patchwork Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Anadolu Şal Series

Six months and more of knotting go into one of these: Multicolor Patchwork Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Anadolu Şal Series — 208 × 307 cm (6'10" × 10'1") in Anatolian wool, built from panels that each take their drawing from a different weaving town.

01The memory of a region

This is the single piece at this size. Hereke, Uşak, Bünyan, Isparta and Sivas Zara all appear on it: five towns with five separate drawing traditions, set beside each other in one field. Nothing lines up, and it is not meant to — the seams between the panels are where the interest is, and the differences between one tradition's flower and the next are easier to see here than they would ever be on five separate rugs.

02From the hand of the weaver

It works under a monochrome room and equally under a room with six colors in it, because one of its own tones will always be somewhere on the wall. The wool is Anatolian and the rug is knotted by hand, knot by knot, on Turkish looms, which is where those six months go.

03The Wool on the surface

Wool with its natural oils still in it takes a low sheen and improves rather than degrades underfoot. One thing to expect: the colors will read differently in your room than they do on a screen, because the direction the pile lies in changes the tone as much as the light does.

04Knot by knot, by hand

Wipe anything spilled straight away, and send it out for washing. Hand-knotted in Anatolian wool on Turkish looms. Panels drawn from the Hereke, Uşak, Bünyan, Isparta and Sivas Zara traditions. More than six months of knotting for a single rug. 208 × 307 cm — a large sitting-room or dining-room size. Wool with its oils left in, which takes a low sheen with use. Pile direction changes the tone; the rug will not look like its photograph. Wipe spills immediately; professional washing for anything deeper. It is the rug that will still be interesting on the day you stop noticing the furniture.