Cream Vintage-Pattern Loom-Woven Wool Rug, Heritage Series

New Zealand wool is the surface fiber, bamboo viscose runs through the motifs and cotton carries the foundation — that is the whole composition of the Heritage Series Vintage Cream Loom-Woven Rug, a faded ethnic drawing spread across a cream ground.

01Which tone on the ground

It comes as one salon piece, 200 × 300 cm, being 6'7" by 9'10" in feet. Cream is the hardest ground in the series to photograph and the easiest to live with, because it takes whatever color the walls give it.

02The origin of the pattern

The pattern on it is drawn in tones a step or two darker than the ground, faded on purpose, so from a doorway you see a large pale rectangle and only close up does the ethnic figuring resolve.

03Knot by knot, by hand

That is a deliberate order of operations: the size registers first, the pattern second. Knots are set on the loom; the ends, the edges and the fringes are hand work. The wool is chosen for staple length, which is what keeps a pile from felting where a chair is pushed back twice a day.

04From ground to pile

Bamboo viscose puts a small amount of light into the motifs. Now the drawback, and it is the obvious one: a cream rug at salon size in a house with children or dogs is a commitment to having it cleaned. Professional washing. Loom-set in Türkiye, and the ends are closed by hand. New Zealand wool at the surface, cotton in the foundation. Bamboo viscose worked through the motifs. Faded ethnic drawing, a couple of tones darker than the cream ground. Reads as a plain pale rug from a distance and resolves close up. A single salon piece, 200 × 300 cm, being 6'7" by 9'10" in feet. A pale ground at this size will need cleaning more often than a dark one. Professional washing. Cream rugs get sold to people who then buy a second, darker one for the winter, and keep both.