Beige Patchwork Loom-Woven Tencel Rug, Günyolu Series

Three blocks sit side by side — cream, beige, gray — and every one of them carries the same flower and spiral drawing. Only the ground color changes. Beige Patchwork Loom-Woven Tencel Rug, Günyolu Series, Tencel® over a cotton foundation, with the motifs taken from the weaving of Hereke, Oushak and Kayseri. Most patchwork rugs work by contrast: different panels, different patterns, cut and joined. This one works the other way round and is more interesting for it.

01The origin of the pattern

Holding one motif constant across three grounds turns the rug into a demonstration of what a background does to a drawing, and under strong light the three blocks separate cleanly while in the evening they close up and read almost as one field. The source patterns are traditional and the arrangement is not, which is why the rug lands equally well in a bohemian room and in a plainly classical one.

02From ground to pile

Beside wood and rattan, earth-toned ceramics or linen, the fringed edge finishes it. Günyolu is a village in the Kemaliye highlands of Erzincan, and the series carries its name. The looms are in Kütahya and Oushak and the people at them are mostly women; machine knots and hand work meet in the same rug, and the fringes are the visible end of that. Tencel®'s natural luster is what lets the motifs sit at different depths in each block instead of flattening out.

03Coming off the loom

A weave number belongs to each piece. Professional cleaning, and not often. Loom-woven on Kütahya and Oushak frames, staffed mainly by women. Tencel® and wool on the surface, over a cotton foundation. Three blocks in cream, beige and gray, all carrying one flower-and-spiral motif. The motifs come from Hereke, Oushak and Kayseri weaving. The blocks separate under bright light and merge under lamplight. Fringed along the edge, with a unique weave number per rug. Halıcızade's tree-of-life mark goes in with the weave. Professional cleaning only. Why does a patchwork rug repeat the same motif in every block? Because the subject of the rug is the ground rather than the drawing.

04Which tone on the ground

Holding one motif constant across cream, beige and gray shows how much a background changes a pattern, and it keeps the piece calm enough to live in a room that already has other patterns in it. It is a rug that rewards being walked past at different hours, which is not something you can say about most beige floors.