Cream Abstract Handwoven Wool and Bamboo Viscose Rug, Maison Series

Three fibers, three jobs: cotton for the foundation, wool for the pile, and bamboo viscose only in the places that need to hold light. Cream Abstract Handwoven Wool and Bamboo Viscose Rug, Maison Series, 274 × 373 cm (9'0" × 12'3"), woven by hand in India, cream running through beige with no motif to find. A single piece. An abstract this pale has nothing to hide behind, so everything comes down to the surface. Cream moves into beige across the field with no repeat and no border, and the bamboo viscose passages lift half a tone out of the wool, so the eye finds movement where there is no drawing.

01Where it is laid

In a north-facing room the whole thing reads cool and papery. Under warm lamps at night the beige comes forward and the rug looks like a different color entirely. Woven by hand in India for this house. Density is the argument the Maison series makes, and lifting one corner is all it takes to hear it.

02Color that shifts through the day

Ten square meters of pale ground is the practical problem with the piece and it deserves saying out loud: it will show a spill, and it is far too large to carry to a bathroom and rinse. Anything beyond a vacuum goes to a washer who handles handwoven pile. Handwoven in India: cotton foundation, wool pile, bamboo viscose in the pattern. 274 × 373 cm (9'0" × 12'3") — a little over ten square meters. Cream running into beige, without a repeat and without a border. Cool and papery in north light; warmer and beiger under lamps. Woven to the density the series is known for — noticeable the moment you pick up an edge. Ten square meters of pale ground shows whatever lands on it. Too big to clean at home; professional washing. One piece. Pale and enormous is the hardest combination to live with and the only one that makes a large room look larger still.