Navy Anatolian Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Mihman Series

Eight-sided figures, many-cornered sunbursts and forked plant forms rise off a navy ground: this is a hand-knotted wool rug from the Mihman series, 280 × 360 cm (9'2" × 11'10"), with a red border around it and roughly 2,000 knots in every 10 cm². Wool pile, cotton foundation, one piece.

The navy is dark without being heavy, and the motifs are set at a steady interval that carries the eye along the field rather than stopping it at a center. Nothing here is drawn softly. Colors are saturated, the transitions between them are cut clean, and the shapes hold their outline at a distance. The red border is the warmth in the piece; it is also what tells you where the field ends, since the field itself would otherwise go on. Traditional Anatolian forms meeting blocks of strong color is the whole idea of the series.

Knotted by hand in Afghanistan. Wool makes up the entire surface, and beneath it sits a cotton base carrying a trace of recycled synthetic yarn for strength, and the house says so instead of hiding it. At about 2,000 knots per 10 cm² the drawing stays legible at the smallest scale, and the piece took months on the loom to reach that count. Vacuum in the direction of the pile and leave anything wetter than that to a rug washer.

• Hand-knotted in Afghanistan for the Mihman series.
• Wool pile; cotton foundation with a trace of recycled synthetic yarn for strength.
• Approximately 2,000 knots per 10 cm², which is what holds the small detail.
• Octagons, sunburst forms and forked plant figures on navy, inside a red border.
• 280 × 360 cm (9'2" × 11'10") — a large salon or a reception floor.
• Months of knotting per piece.
• Send it to a rug washer rather than wetting it at home.
• A single piece, and not repeatable.

A rug this size decides a room before the furniture does, and this one decides it in favor of color.