Red Oushak-Pattern Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Şahzade Series

It is a small rug — 61 × 91 cm, roughly two feet by three — and the size is the point: a hand-knotted wool Oushak in red, with a full central medallion, stylized flowers and curling branch work drawn on it at a scale most rugs would need three meters to carry.

01How many centimeters, which room

A second size is made at 62 × 90 cm. Wool pile on a cotton foundation. Turquoise, navy, mustard and cream are set against the red, and because the ground is deep and warm those four colors read as bright rather than loud.

02Up close to the pattern

Border bands run inside one another around the field, tightening the composition, and small geometric and plant ornaments fill the spaces between. Wool takes dye unevenly, so the reds shift in depth as the light moves and the surface never goes flat.

03Knot by knot, by hand

Put it in an entrance, in a narrow corridor, at the side of a bed, or on a table — at this size those are all reasonable places for it. It is knotted by hand on the loom, knot after knot, and no two come out identical — the medallion sits a row or so differently on each.

04What the yarn is

The pile is wool alone. The foundation is mostly cotton, and a small amount of recycled synthetic yarn is spun in to hold the structure together. Halıcızade declares that rather than hiding it.

05Color that shifts through the day

Small hand-knotted rugs are among the few genuinely hand-made objects still bought as gifts, and this is one of the reasons the size exists. Hand-knotted, one knot at a time, so every piece differs slightly. Wool pile; the foundation is mostly cotton, carrying a little recycled synthetic yarn for strength. A classical Oushak drawing: central medallion, stylized flowers, curling branches. Turquoise, navy, mustard and cream against a deep red ground. Nested border bands framing the field. Two sizes: 61 × 91 cm and 62 × 90 cm. Professional washing. Small rugs move around a house for decades and end up in rooms nobody planned for them, which is more than can be said for a three-meter one. This rug belongs to the Şahzade Series.