Navy Anatolian-Pattern Loom-Woven Wool Rug, Zara Series

Oushak in western Anatolia gave the rug trade one of its oldest names, and the Zara series is woven there on dedicated looms rather than by hand: a navy wool rug of 200 × 300 cm (6'7" × 9'10"), drawn with Anatolian motifs, finished with fringes that are knotted one at a time.

01Color that shifts through the day

The work is done largely by women. Navy is the ground and everything sits on it — the old village figures, redrawn at a size that suits a modern room, in the color range those patterns have always used. On a dark ground the drawing reads as light rather than as color, and the design comes forward or recedes with the strength of the lamp above it.

02Coming off the loom

This is a pattern that has been woven in this region for centuries, and the tones are the ones that survived. Loom weaving sits between the two things buyers compare: steadier than a village rug, warmer than a machine-made one, and quicker than hand-knotting because the loom carries the structure. The fringes are the part done by hand, tied individually at both ends.

03What Wool does

Wool is the only fiber in the pile, with no synthetic yarn in it, so the rug can be cleaned the way a hand-knotted rug is cleaned. Professional washing is what the house recommends. Woven on dedicated looms in Oushak, Türkiye, mostly by women. Wool pile, with no synthetic yarn in it. 200 × 300 cm (6'7" × 9'10"). Anatolian village drawing on a navy ground. Both ends are fringed, and every fringe is tied individually. It falls between hand-knotting and machine weaving, and it looks it. Professional washing. Dark rugs go under furniture and stay there for twenty years, and this is the sort that is still worth looking at when the sofa above it has been replaced twice.