Cream Anatolian Loom-Woven Wool Rug, Heritage Series

It is woven in the Uşak region of western Türkiye, by women, on looms: Cream Anatolian Loom-Woven Wool Rug from the Heritage series, in New Zealand wool, with Anatolian stars and octagons drawn in red, blue and green on a cream ground, measuring 200 × 300 cm — 6'7" by 9'10".

01Knot by knot, by hand

A loom sets the ground and hands finish it, which is what loom-woven means here. The composition is bordered several times over, and each band carries a different set of figures: eight-pointed stars, hooked octagons, the small filler motifs Anatolian weavers use to close a gap. The eye travels from the outside inward and keeps finding a new register on the way.

02Color that shifts through the day

Color concentrates in the middle. At three meters long this is a full living-room size and the drawing has been scaled for it — nothing in the pattern is so small that it vanishes under a sofa. New Zealand wool is the fiber, chosen for a long staple that resists matting, and the pile is cut low, which is what keeps so many small motifs legible instead of blurred.

03Coming off the loom

Loom weaving is the middle construction: more regular than a machine-made rug, faster than one knotted knot by knot. Uşak has been weaving since the fifteenth century and the finishing is still women's work there. A shallow pile gives less underfoot than a deep one, which suits some people and not others.

04The memory of a region

Send it out to be washed. Loom-woven in the Uşak region of Türkiye, finished by hand. New Zealand wool, long-stapled and cut to a low pile. Anatolian stars and octagons in red, blue and green on cream. Several concentric borders, each carrying a different set of figures. Three meters by two — 200 × 300 cm, or 6'7" by 9'10". Firm underfoot rather than deep and soft. Washed by a professional. The motifs on it were drawn for tents and for village floors, and they still make more sense on a floor than on a wall.